Nothing Else Matters
by Dark Mousy
Summary: A tale of tragic love daunted by bloody circumstances... Bloody hands that refuse to clean, a heart that refuses to love... A blade that can never be rid of the death... (Zechs Merquise/Twilight Suzuka)
1. Hopeless Dreaming

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So close no matter how far  
Couldn't be much more from the heart  
Forever trusting who we are  
And nothing else matters  
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His mask… broken and discarded. He would no longer wear the mask, which had so long been a part of his very being, his very core. It was his protection, his solitude, his momentary safety. Shattered. It had long been put away, the broken pieces never to return to his face, nor did he want it to. He was tired of hiding; he was tired of the uselessness of it. His face would be known, his actions revered. He would fight for what he believed in, what others would want to believe in. He would be the motivation for the people, someday, somehow, with or without the help of the Gundam pilots. Whether or not they would agree, even after what he had caused, was completely up to them. War is fickle, it will choose who lives and who dies, tragedy and triumph.  
  
"In the horror that is human hearts…" Zechs said to himself as he put the shot glass down gently on mahogany wood. The bar tender asked him if he wanted another, and the platinum-blonde haired man shook his head. One was enough; his intention was to enjoy a drink, not enough to get himself drunk. The bartender took the glass back, and then went to the next ready customer.   
  
Zechs stood; there was nothing more he wished to accomplish at a bar. It was his night off, and to be honest, he had no idea of what to do with it. The prospect of doing absolutely nothing that would make a difference vexed him; he wondered how other people could live out normal lives thinking that they did make a difference with petty words and sad complaints. Humans…Such a strange species. Noin had urged him to wear his mask, but it would be more noticeable if he were to go out on the streets wearing a mask over his head. What would he be hiding; he was sure they would wonder. A gruesome, deformed face like that of a phantom so long ago? No, he did not possess such a face, but his past could be as deformed.   
  
This place was strange to him, so traditional in ancient Japan he felt as if he had taken a trip back in time. He felt underdressed, to say the least, but he would not be seen walking around in their clothing. What he wore was his own business. Although the look was traditional, the weaponry being sold was amazing, the technology none to compare. Most of the Gundam and Talgeese designs were based off some of the intricate weaponry systems provided by these seemingly harmless people, seemingly harmless was hardly a term. What he did notice that surprised him was a single store, which sold a boken, a long wooden katana. He thought this strange, and at first thought it only for practice. When he asked the clerk, he was met with a surprising answer.  
  
"The power of the blade does not win a fight; it is the power of the soul, and the discipline of the mind. It takes such a soul and mind to wield a weapon like that, both delicate and quick."  
  
He said no more as the clerk returned behind the desk, and nor did the clerk say another word to him or even look up. Zechs looked at the boken one more time, before walking out to continue his slow-moving night of nothing. He wanted to return, Noin would lock the doors on him, insisting that he have the night off. He knew well of her feelings for him, they were as apparent as the stars that began to dot the peaceful night sky. It was not his soldier's instinct that stopped him from returning the feelings; it was not the thought of her safety from him. He just simply… Could not return the feelings the way she yearned for him to. As a friend, as a soldier, he could not find better, nor did he think he would. She would be faithful to him until the end and he had a duty to protect her, as she felt she had a duty to protect his honor and his decisions. It was an intricate system, a one-sided love, but he knew she would handle it, she would always handle it. Deep down she knew, she knew that he would never return her feelings, but her hope and her motivation was the thought that he would, so he did not tamper with such dreams. It was the war and the hope of peace that kept him alive, nothing else would. Everyone had a motivation, even though those of the Gundam pilots seemed shaded and dull, he knew. His motivation was vague, for he had no real one in which to hope for, and if that motivation was supposed to be love, he would rather do without. Would he ever be the father of children? No, he did not think so. The war would end; he would be a discarded soldier, a glory of what once was. A shell of a strong man, Zechs Merquise, not a man once known as Milliardo Peacecraft. He was not the man they claimed he was, he would never return to being that man. His new identity carried a price, a weight that only he would bear. Milliardo Peacecraft died and out of his ashes came the man whose hands will forever be stained with blood - Zechs Merquise.   
  
It was so hard to trust, he knew it would be even harder to love. He convinced his mind that he would never know this emotion; he would never feel the warmth of a woman's body pressed against his own in an embrace the gods could not break. His passion was deeper than the ocean, brighter than the stars. It yearned to be free within him, it yearned to break the shell of the flesh and bone and be free as he only dreamed he could be. His hands and feet were bound by searing shackles, every step was agony, every movement he made they dug deeper into his flesh. He would not cry out, he would not break his steady walk. He would bear it and move on, as he always had, and he always will. His pain was too great to even think of sharing with another, even forbidden in his dreams to share.   
  
Such dreams he had, though. Dreams of tainted beauty, skin as soft as a petal of a rose, eyes as bright as midnight fire, lips as full as his passion. A spirit as wild as the stars themselves and harder to tame than the fiercest animal. This was only in the furthest reaches of his dreams, when he had nothing more to live for he would think of such things, lips he could never taste and a love he could never hold. He would never tell this to anyone, he would consider it a weakness, to be yearning like he did. As it was in human nature to fight, it was in human nature to want to be loved and to give love. Although humans have found a way to suppress the nature to love, and use the energy to feed the nature to fight, like wild animals waiting for a kill, a sound, a movement. Waiting for a precise moment to strike, and to strike full force to wipe away the prey, the blood, the sorrow and all sound of what was. It was his duty so that this would never be - it was his duty to stop what he once thought his brother, his ally, his friend. To stop what was now a common enemy - Treize.   
  
His thoughts of a love he could never have discarded, he continued walking on a full road. The night was young; he only wished it would end.  
  
  
  
  
Author's Note - Yes, this is eventually going to turn into a Zechs/Suzuka from Outlaw Star story. Why this pairing? Good question… I wonder if someone has made a pairing like this… I am sure someone else has, I can't be the only one. I actually just thought of it… And I started writing, while listening to 'Nothing Else Matters' by Metallica over, and over, and over again… A verse will be at the top of every chapter, I wonder what I'll do when I run out of verses… Maybe I'll go into The Unforgiven. Regardless, please don't flame if you don't like this pairing. If the chapter was bad, please, flame away, but people have their own tastes. I enjoy good comments; it makes me feel like I am actually making a difference. I hope you enjoy the next chapter when I get around to writing it. Another note, this is a total Alternate Universe story. This is set in the Gundam Wing setting, Gene Starwind isn't even around. Suzuka will still be an assassin, using the boken mentioned in the above chapter. The timeline would maybe be around the time White Fang came about… But remember, this is AU, so please understand… Thank you for reading and sorry for this very long author's note, it should be author's paragraph… Oh well. 


	2. Bright as Midnight Fire

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Never opened myself this way  
Life is ours, we live it our way  
All these words I don't just say  
And nothing else matters  
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The air was crisp, the night was cold. Zechs breathed out, and saw his breath before him before it disappeared into the chilling wind. There were fewer people walking around now, most had gone into their homes, where he could see fires from the hearth rising. He caught himself wanting. But for what? To be in a home, to be welcomed, to be wanted and cherished.   
  
"My emotions are getting the better of me…"  
  
He was somewhat angry. He knew that he would be making a better difference if he were back at his quarters, doing what he knew he could do best. But Noin had insisted, and said that he was under too much stress. Yes, he knew of the stress, but he carried such a weight that petty stress did not matter any more to him, it came and went, like the beating of his heart would one day. All life ends, some sooner than others. He intended to live. For what, or for whom, he did not know. Perhaps it was only himself, and his own selfish ideals, or perhaps it was for the people on earth, who also desired to live in the face of opposition.   
  
Up ahead of the town were fields, endless fields of nothing, yet so alive, so flourishing. The moon was full and the stars shone brightly, to pass the time he would lie in one of those fields under the blanket of stars and perhaps sleep – he had nothing else to do. He began walking, his hands stuffed in grey trench coat pockets. His bangs covered his ice-blue eyes, and he was glad for this. He disliked looking people in the eye, it gave them an advantage, and even if his eyes were cold he always felt that his emotions were apparent. His weaknesses which he toiled every day to suppress, to lessen, to burn as if they were only pieces of paper. He did not consider himself an emotionless man; he had passion, which he would never let anyone see. It was this passion that he released in his fighting; it was this passion he released in his words, every word dripping with a hidden passion, a yearning, a longing for touch, warmth, feeling, and love. The yearning is in every human being, he knew even in Heero Yuy; although Zechs knew that he would rather die before admit it.   
  
Zechs continued his walking, not even stopping when he reached the outskirts of the town. The noise had much lessened, he guessed it could be somewhere before midnight. He had forgotten his watch back at the base, and he was not about to go around to ask for one. He would just wait until the first light of morning, and then be glad to return to the machinery, the weaponry, the maps and the plans of a day of war. It was in his nature, it ran through his blood, through his being and his mind. No one could escape this war, and no one would. It would rage on and on like a fire, and like a fire, it would stop when there is nothing left to burn. He would stop the onslaught; douse the fire in hopes to return peace. As much as peace was needed, it saddened him. Yes, the world would be in peace with the colonies and harmony would be restored until another Treize takes the hold… But he would then become discarded, with nothing more than the memory of what once was, and what would probably never be again.   
  
He began to walk the dirt road, and then stopped. He turned his head to his right, with ice blue eyes narrowing, then widening in surprise. A man was running towards him, frantic and crying. The man grabbed Zechs' coat collar upon reaching him.   
  
"Please, help me! HELP ME! Five minutes… FIVE MINUTES… God help me… God help me!!"   
  
Zechs took a step back in surprise; the man was trembling so badly it was shaking him. The man looked to his right, then screamed a cry of a man with only moments to live, and continued running to Zechs' left. He did not know what to make of it, until he saw what the man had been running from. A figure was walking after the man, taking her time, it seemed. Her hair was drawn back tightly, save for two long strands that stayed by her face. At her side was carried a boken, like he saw earlier in the shop, and she was wearing something he had never quite seen before. It looked Japanese but… different, in some way. He wondered why this man was so afraid of a woman with a wooden katana, but then he remembered the clerk's words about the fabled wooden sword. The woman only looked at him once, then walked straight past him, toward the man who had run into the fields and who was now standing, staring at her in utter terror. Zechs wanted to help, but he decided it was best not to interfere. He had no idea how this would turn out, it had been so long since he had seen someone actually fight with a sword. He touched the one that hung at his side gently. It was usually only for décor, or if you were to run out of options and had no use of a gun. But why would she use a katana, a wooden one at that, instead of a much-easier use of a gun?  
  
The woman stood in front of the man, and a wind blew. "Time is up."  
  
No sooner had the woman said that, she ran to the man. The boken was held at her side, blade facing outward but held close to her. She sideswiped the man, and then stopped, still looking forward. He could see the man's face rather clearly, which was one of utter terror and then pain, before he fell onto his knees, then onto his face. The woman finally turned, then put the boken in a handle at her side. He knew she had seen him very clearly, and he knew that she must have been a professional assassin, because she did not even seem to want to draw her weapon against him. No sooner had she finished her kill that she seemed to just disappear.   
  
Zechs walked down the few feet to the first field. The ground around the man was soaked in crimson blood, and his eyes stared into the ground. He pushed the man onto his back, folded his hands over his chest, and closed his eyes. It was then he stood, and a wind blew, this time cold and unforgiving. He looked up as he saw a flash of movement, and there, in a tree far off, the woman stood on a branch, steady as a rock, eyes as bright as midnight fire. 


	3. Flowing Blood and Anger

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Trust I seek, and I find in you.  
Every day for us, something new.  
Open mind for a different view,  
And nothing else matters.   
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Zechs stood there; with nothing to say, but too much to do. He was not afraid, he knew already how the professional assassins worked and that he would not be killed, even if he did witness it. The authorities would do nothing; usually the assassins were so elusive that they knew better than how to be found. He blinked, and in the instant his eyes were closed, the dark-haired woman disappeared. He looked back to the man who lied in a pool of his own blood, then back up to the moon, icy orbs clear.  
  
The night was fading – slowly. Too slow for his own liking, he wanted it to be over so he could return to his quarters and Noin would have hopefully unlocked the door for him to actually gain entry to his own temporary home. His emotions were mixed, he knew not of all the things he was thinking – he rarely did. But one image stood clearly in his mind, and that was of the assassin, with the long, black hair, and the wooden sword. It was so swift, the death of the man. She caused no unnecessary suffering, but merely gave him five minutes to use as he pleased; he did it running around like an idiot.   
  
For the remainder of the night, he fell into the abyss of his thoughts as he walked every foot of the town in complete boredom. A few women who wondered if he would like a 'good time' stopped him once or twice. He rejected kindly, and moved on with his walk to nothing, and for nothing. Towards the hours before dawn he saw a strange store at the corner of a street he had not seemed to notice before. The lights were on inside, a nice welcome than the bare and ill-lit streets. When Zechs tried the door, it was unlocked, and so he stepped into what seemed like an antique book store. No sooner had he stepped in, that a woman came through one of the shelves holding an armful of books.  
  
  
"Here… Let me help you with that," he said quietly as he took more than half of the books she was carrying.  
  
  
"Thanks!" She said.  
  
  
It was nice of her, of course, he thought as he followed her around as she shelved the books in different places. But it was odd indeed, it had to be no more than 3:00 a.m. and she was as bright as if it were the afternoon.   
  
  
"You work during the night?"  
  
  
"Nah. I work all shifts."  
  
  
"Do you not get tired?"  
  
  
"No."  
  
  
"Hmm…"   
  
  
After the last book was shelved, she wiped her brow, then turned to him. "So, what's your name? Strange hour of the morning for an out-of-towner to be walking around."  
  
  
"My name is of no consequence…" He replied. "And since I did not give you mine, I will not ask for yours." He paused. "One of my friends said I needed a night off… I have nothing to do with it."  
  
  
"Ah," she nodded. "Well, my name is Rel. If all else fails, read these books. I'm sure you will find them… captivating." She found another stray book and shelved it. "Oh! And have you heard the new news on the war lately?"  
  
  
"I am sure I have," he replied. He was being truthful, there was practically nothing of the war that he did not know or nothing that was new.   
  
  
"The assassination of anyone associated with OZ? I guess news travels fast." Rel began to clean the counter, which was already spotless.  
  
  
"Indee--… I am sorry… What did you say?"  
  
  
"The main officers are being assassinated… I know three have been already, or at least, that's all they've said. Good news is, there has not been much fighting anymore, the Gundam pilots seem to be hiding."  
  
  
Zechs looked down to the ground. Now that she had said that, it made him wonder about the man he saw killed. He had never seen the man before… But why would the woman have reason to kill him? He sighed as he ran his fingers over the engravings on an old leather book cover idly.   
  
  
"I knew someone killed by an assassin once, right in this very bookstore. See the dark stains on the leather? Don't get freaked out, but that was her blood. Years and years ago, though, so don't just go 'ew' because it was once covered in blood," she said casually. "Besides that point, that book is very, very special."  
  
  
Zechs was too busy looking at the dark stains on the leather. "How so?"  
  
  
"It is a book about fighting techniques of the spirit. There are only two around the world, and this bookstore has one."  
  
  
"Fighting… of the spirit?"  
  
  
"Yes. I know that there's all the Gundams and all the other mobile weapons out there, but they don't compare to this. And I'll tell you a secret. Assassins live and die by books like this, only super elites were able to read from the exact copy of this book or this book before."  
  
  
"I see."  
  
  
"Do you believe in personal hell?"  
  
  
Zechs blinked, she changed the subject quickly, as well as to an odd one. "I suppose so…"  
  
  
"I do. If you were a bad person in life, then you relive your death over, and over, and over again."  
  
  
He looked down to the ground. "Then I shall relive my death, and my pain, sevenfold for all eternity…" He said barely above a whisper.  
  
  
"What did you say?"  
  
  
"Nothing."   
  
  
"Well, it's almost 4:00, you better get going, I have some things I need to do in the back."  
  
He nodded, then put the book back down on the counter. She looked to the book, then to him, then back to the book. "Maybe you can drop by again, you're so polite."  
  
"I will try," he replied as he went towards the door. She smiled to him as he walked out. But before he could close the door, however, a cloaked figure pushed him out of the way and went inside. Zechs did not think too much of it, with the kind of books being sold it could attract strange people. It was then that his memories were brought back, and of the assassin woman who had stood in the tree, watching him with eyes that seemed to burn straight into his very soul.   
  
It was around 5:00 a.m. that he decided to go back to the shop to spend the rest of the morning if she would have him. He had nothing else to do and the dawn was not close to breaking yet.   
  
The platinum-blonde-haired man walked into the store, and called her name; receiving no answer.   
  
"Rel…?" He asked, time and time again. 'Perhaps she is asleep,' he thought as he pushed open the back door. But instead of seeing her sleeping, he saw her lying naked in a pool of blood, mutilated. The book that he had earlier seen lie to her left… but… he barely noticed that the blood stains were in the same exact places as the ones he saw earlier. It was then that he saw the cloaked figure try to reach for the book. Zechs put his hand on his sword hilt, and the figure jumped and ran out the back door. He was about to give chase, but he could not leave Rel the way she was. His eyes were not their usual coldness, he had seen two deaths in the course of one night but this was…  
  
It was obvious that the girl had been shamed before her death. He kneeled by her, unable to take it in, how this bright girl had been shelving books only an hour ago. Bloody cloth was stuffed in her mouth, while an equally bloody cloth was tied over her eyes. It was obvious she struggled, even when a pool of blood was surrounding her. The jean material on his knees and shins were soaked already, but he could not care any less. There were scratches and bruises all over her slight body, with bloody nail marks covering the skin of her inner thighs and lower stomach. There was a strange necklace on her… when he noticed that it was not a necklace, it was her death. It was a chain, and on one side it was adorned with razor-sharp spikes. He delicately un-hooked the death tool, and pulled the spikes from her skin and lay the chain aside. Blood now flowed from the open wounds in her neck, and down her chest in spider-web like streams. He raised her hand, while under her long nails was collected flesh and blood from the man who had shamed and killed her. Her long strands of blonde hair were bathed in her own blood. He stayed quiet as he took the cloth from her mouth, and threw it aside as he delicately closed it. He took the blindfold off and threw that off as well. However, he was startled when her right eye opened, the pupil fixed directly on the spot where the book lay. He gently placed his finger over her eyelid to close it, but as soon as he did so, her eye opened again, with the un-seeing eye fixed on the book. Zechs reached out, and took it in his hands, bringing it back to rest in his lap.   
  
Her right eye slowly closed, but he did not notice as he picked her up as well as the book. With his arms dripping in blood, and his shirt soaked, he carried her outside the door. No sooner had he done that, as he was facing the opposite side, that he felt the weight in his arms grow lighter. When he looked down, the bloodied and mutated body of a girl he held in his hands was slowly changing color. As he watched, a wind blew. Her skin turned to dust, as well as her body, and was carried down the road in swirls by the strange wind. He knew of nothing to say, but that he was probably dreaming. But the blood on his arms still dripped, or at least he thought so. When he looked down to his arms after the dust had dissipated, it was not blood that dripped from his arms and stained his lower pant legs, but water. And yet, when he looked back to the book he carried, the bloodstains were as old as he had last seen them.   
  
  
With the strange fear flowing through his veins, he turned back to the bookstore.  
  
  
A dark-haired woman watched from the shadows.  
  
  
...Where the bookstore was, there was nothing but an empty lot... 


	4. Fallen Soldier

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Never cared for what they do,  
Never cared for what they know,  
But I know…  
  
  
Never opened myself this way…  
Life is ours, we live it our way.  
All these words I don't just say,  
And nothing else matters…  
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This confused man could only stand there, looking at an empty stretch of pavement that was as bare as his pockets had somehow become. A voice broke his shock.  
  
  
"This is not a place for you," the voice called to him. The voice was soft, yet sharp… Alluring, yet defiant. It was everything and it was nothing to him, he could no longer decide with only a single sentence being spoken.   
  
  
Zechs turned, to see the woman known as Twilight Suzuka standing, facing the north, but with her head turned to him and her boken held in her right hand. The katana, however, was relaxed within her grip and the tip touched the ground, as a sign that she would not attack him without just cause. "I could have sworn I saw—"  
  
  
"You saw nothing but a foolish man's dream in which you spun around the reality. Now, hand over the book or there will be hell to pay for both you and I. The assassin will return to claim it from you when you least expect it."  
  
  
"And what will become of you if I give this to you?"  
  
  
"That is none of your concern."  
  
  
"Then I shall not give this book to you."  
  
  
"What uses have you for it? You do not know of its importance, or of its power, only I know of it, now hand it over or I will be forced to take it from you, and waste my time." The tip of the sword did not touch the ground anymore.  
  
  
Although Zechs was not in his uniform, he carried his fencing sword at his side rather than a gun, which would attract more attention since that would be a faster kill. He had seen this woman's skill, and although he would never admit it, he knew that the outcome of the battle was clear – he would not win.  
  
  
She spread her legs only slightly, enough to have a slender stance while holding the boken with both hands at her side. He put his hand on his sword hilt, but did not draw it. "I do not wish to fight you, but please tell me your name."  
  
  
"You have no need of my name. Put the book down and draw your sword, so that you may die with your weapon in hand. It is quite noble despite the consequences."  
  
  
He drew his sword, but instead of taking a fighting stand, he turned the sword, so that the blade pointed down to the ground. He held the sword out at arm's length with his right, then the book out with his left.  
  
  
"Be satisfied."   
  
  
The wind blew, and with it, he could have sworn a faint aroma of sweet cherry blossoms, and he was filled as the wind turned about him, through his hair and into his lungs. His eyes stayed steady upon the figure before him, who stood as still as a rock, with only her raven-black hair moving with the caressing wind. They stood, staring, for what seemed like moments on end, but not long enough for him. He was mesmerized, drawn, as if a shark keen to the smell of blood. But it was not blood he sensed, nor was it the aroma that filled the night's new breeze. But it was mystery, allure… Something he wished he could fight, but all his soldier's instincts were thrown away at the sight of this woman's noble face, of her skilled hands. Of her eyes that shone as bright as midnight's fire, and her skin as pale as the moonlight. Zechs found himself unable to stop his staring, his mind screamed at him to keep the book, to attack this beautiful foe with the weapon he possessed, but his body did not answer. He had never felt such a thing, it coursed through his body like a rapid-moving poison and he was powerless to stop it.   
  
The sweet wind stopped. The woman known as Twilight Suzuka put down her sword, and he put down his. She took one step forward, then two, carefully calculating has he held out the book as hers for the taking. He was too intrigued with her to notice. He was too intrigued in this mysterious woman to notice the dark figure that seemed to just come from the sky. Intrigued.  
  
It came fast. The figure seemed to come from thin air, and Suzuka only had time to turn her eyes to look as it came down hard on her, throwing her away from the scene and onto the ground. Zechs had no time to even breathe as the figure walked straight to him. The platinum-blonde-haired man had only time to look down as a knife was thrust deep into his stomach. He looked up, and met the eyes of the figure who had cast the blow. The figure held a sinister smile on a pale face, as he twisted the knife within Zechs' stomach, and then pulled it out. Even though this happened within the span of five seconds, this gave Suzuka enough time to go back and take her boken from where it lay on the ground. The figure snatched the book from Zechs' hand, and then backed away behind him, as he turned to face Suzuka.  
  
Zechs' eyes were wide as he dropped to his knees. The wound was deep, made wider by the twist in the knife. Crimson blood flowed through his fingers; his life touched the asphalt and spread like wildfire. But still his eyes watched the scene which was about to come into play.  
  
  
Twilight Suzuka only looked to Zechs once, and once was all she needed. She could tell by a wound how long a person might live, and she could tell that this man was not going to live long. Ten minutes at most, if left untreated. She had only limited time if she was to kill this man.  
  
  
The figure drew his sword in a fluid movement, rushing for Suzuka. She parried the blow easily with her boken, jumping from her right foot to spin in the air, and then land behind him. She thrust her boken into the figure's back, but found that she had only hit air. It was as if the figure had simply disappeared, but in fact, he had not. He was trying to pull the same trick on her, and she had the wits enough to duck to the ground as straight above her head, the steel sword was thrust. With a flexible movement only a woman of skill could hope to achieve, she used her right had as support as she twisted her lower body upwards within a millisecond, capturing the sword between her ankles. She jumped into the air, drawing her legs in a jerking movement so that the sword hung in the air in front of her for a moment as she too, stayed in the air. In another fluid movement, she grabbed the hilt of that sword, and spun to the south to face the figure. As she landed, she had the steel sword with the tip directly to his neck, and her boken with the tip directly to his stomach. This entire feat was finished in a total of five seconds.  
  
  
The figure's sinister smile was gone, but he had no time to plead for mercy as she pushed her left arm forward, thrusting his own sword into his neck and out behind him. His eyes were wide, and the sound of choking along with the movement of blood within the back of his throat was sickening as he fell onto his back, forcing the back of the sword to be pushed out of his neck with the force that he fell with. His body twitched, but only once, as his hand dropped to his side with the book being released.   
  
  
Suzuka kneeled down by the mystery assassin's corpse, and took the book, without even bothering to take the cloak away to find out who he even was. When she stood, her eyes turned to Zechs, who now lied within the middle of the road, silent save for his breathing. He had been through pain before, and it was not the pain that bothered him. He was a soldier, but he did not contain any special ability. Anything cut will bleed, and he was bleeding his life away. His focus was blurring, and the last thing he remembered seeing was a beautiful woman kneeling by his dying form.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
AN – What you say? All your base are belong to us? What happens to Zechs, you wonder? I don't know, actually. I haven't written the next chapter, so you get to wait. =P Please no flames, I did write this in the wee hours of a school morning. I hope you all like it, I thought it contained a fair amount of action. 


	5. Shrouded in Mystery

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Never cared for what they do  
Never cared for what they know  
But I know  
  
Never opened myself this way  
Life is ours, we live it our way  
All these words I don't just say  
And nothing else matters.  
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Two ice-blue eyes opened to welcoming darkness. The only light that he could sense was the warmth from a fire in the hearth, and from the warmth on his side he could feel that it was not far to his left. Zechs' eyes drank in his surroundings. It seemed like a home, but it was not. By the walls it looked as if it had been abandoned for some time, but his sheets were clean and the floor seemed moderately clean, as if someone had been making this their home for some time. He groaned loudly, remembering that he had been stabbed, but now he realized that he was alive. He sat up slightly, the loss of blood making his head spin in ways he never knew his sight could go. When he looked down, he found that he had no shirt on, but his stomach was well bandaged and he could smell the faint scent of herbs, and when he turned to his right, on the table next to the bed was a steaming cup of tea.   
  
"Drink," said the woman, who had seemed to come from everywhere, and yet come from nowhere. "It will help to ease your pain and heal your wound."  
  
"Why are you… helping me?" Zechs asked, his voice deep and husky due to his dry throat.  
  
"Drink," was all Suzuka said again, and so he did.  
  
The tea was good; it warmed his throat and stomach and seemed to rejuvenate him from the loss of blood. He had no shirt on, and since the wound was in the lower region of his abdomen, Suzuka had rolled the waistline of his pants so that it only stopped to cover the essentials.   
  
"What… time is it?" He asked, after he had finished the tea and put it on the table.  
  
"You have been sleeping for a day since your wound was fresh, it is 11:00 in the morning."  
  
"A day?!" He was surprised - thoroughly. He had had such wounds before and was up on his feet within a few hours, doing what he could. Noin would be worried, no less sending out soldiers already to search for him. "I need to go."  
  
"I have given you sedatives, you will not be able to go anywhere for some time."  
  
"You WHAT?" His voice was louder, more angry.  
  
Suzuka did not even look up to him as she took a sip of her tea, holding the cup with both hands that were shrouded in red gloves.  
  
Despite himself, Zechs tried to rise, but found it to no avail as to move his lower body was like trying to move a mountain. He cursed at her and lied down again. "Once again. Why did you bandage me?"  
  
"I had to stitch the wound, first. You were losing far too much blood to simply have a bandage. That is why you still have sedatives in your system."  
  
"Hmm…" He ran his fingers over the bandage, feeling the faint hardness of the stitches underneath. "Thank you… But why?"  
  
"You were going to give the book to me. In doing so, you meant peace and were about to die for a cause you did not know of. I could do nothing else."  
  
"You live here?" Zechs asked.  
  
"Sometimes. I have as long as I have been in this city. But I move from time to time."  
  
He nodded, and it was then he noticed that his possessions were on the main table, such as his sword, his wallet, and his hidden gun. "Why did you search my pockets?"  
  
"For your I.D., Zechs Merquise. I contacted your organization to inform them that you were safe and in good hands, and that I would return you to them in the morrow."  
  
"They probably think you have captured me."  
  
"No, I think not. Your woman friend was quite angry to know that you had been injured, and wished to come and retrieve you herself. It seems that you are quite popular. Are you the leader of this organization?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then I shall not ask any further." She took another sip of her tea, with her eyes closed on her pale, yet calm face.  
  
"Regardless of your word, they will be here soon."  
  
"No they will not. In your delusion you spoke to your womanfriend and informed her that you were quite alright, and that I smelled of cherry blossoms and juniper before you fell asleep." Sip.  
  
"I did not say that!"  
  
"Ask her when you return. She was fuming after you had given the phone back." Sip.  
  
"You sedated me! What was I supposed to say?"  
  
"Would you like me to tell you what else you said?" Pour and sip.  
  
"What."  
  
"Besides the cherry blossoms and juniper, you as well said that I wore far too much clothing for being a woman as well-" She paused as she took a sip. "…Endowed, as you said. The only comment I liked was the one you made on my fighting style." She said all this calmly, as if she was discussing the weather outside.  
  
This was one of the first and very last times Zechs would blush. He had a red line running on his face, with something of an angry look as he watched her take another sip of the tea. It seemed to be what calmed her, or what stopped her from saying more of the words he did not want to hear.  
  
"I am very sorry…"  
  
"Do not be." Sip. "You were delusional. But now the paralyzing effect of the sedatives should be wearing off, I have found a shirt for you to wear. Your boots, however, were filled with blood and I do not suppose you would like to wear them. But I have no other shoes that you can possibly wear so I suppose you will have to do without. I should return you to your place, you are better off."  
  
He rose, finding his legs in good working order as he went to the chair. Neatly folded was a red, loose muscle shirt, that when he put it on fit well with the tan color of his pants. However, the cold touched his bare feet like needles. It seemed that the floor was made of long-eroded marble. He cared not, because he knew that he had to get back as quickly as possible. He looked to her, his eyes asking where he could find the exit.   
  
Suzuka reached out her hand, and with the flick of her wrist, Zechs had only time to see the silver of a needle coming for him, before he felt a sting in his neck, then he fell unconscious.  
  
When Zechs awoke, he was standing in front of the OZ compound, with Suzuka standing beside him with her boken held at her side. He had to wonder how he got here, it was as if he was awake the entire time, but yet he was trapped within his mind. "What did you do?"  
  
"None of your concern. You are here, and this is where I leave you." She turned, and began to walk away.  
  
"Wait! What is your name?"  
  
"Suzuka," she replied. "Twilight Suzuka."  
  
He nodded slowly, and then turned back to the compound, reaching his hand out to type in the code needed for his entry.  
  
"It will be a shame to have to kill you." Zechs heard Suzuka say.  
  
When he turned to see her, he saw nothing but an empty field. 


	6. Paper Smelling of Cherry Blossoms and Ju...

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Conversion.  
Software Version 7.0.  
Looking at life through the eyes of a tire hub.  
Eating seeds as a past time activity.  
The toxicity of our city… Of our city.  
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Zechs' slender fingers punched in the code needed for him to enter. Immediately upon entry, about five soldiers came running, recognizing the code that only Zechs used.  
  
"Colonel Zechs!" They shouted, each one of them standing to attention. Zechs waved one hand, weakly.  
  
"Where is Noin?"  
  
"This way, Sir." The soldier to the far left replied sharply, and then proceeded to lead him to the med bay.   
  
Noin was tending to a fallen soldier, but her head immediately shot up when she heard a single footprint into the room. When she turned, she saw Zechs, weary looking, but seeming alright.  
  
"Oh, Zechs!" She ran to him, about to place her arms around him when she noticed the other soldier. It would have seemed unprofessional, and so the soldier bowed his head and left in a hurry. As soon as the door closed behind him, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his chest. "I was so worried…"  
  
"You know I am always alright," he replied sincerely, as he rubbed her back.   
  
They stayed like this for some time, with Noin within his arms for comfort, and he with his eyes closed. The wound was painful, especially with her pressure on it, but he paid it no heed, until she did. The front of her uniform was white, and when she finally released him she noticed a circle of blood on her uniform, as well as a darker, more crimson circle on his shirt.  
  
"Zechs!" She had genuine worry in her eyes, which was something that he admired about her. Loyalty.  
  
"I'm… fine." He said, as he went to sit down on one of the beds.  
  
"What happened to you?" Noin went to his side, taking off his shirt to examine the bandages. But she did not examine for long, because she ripped off the blood-stained cloth, and took the herbs away from the re-opened wound. It was not a sight for those with weak stomachs, the stitches had seemed to loosen, and so the skin was open in the breaks of the stitches, where the blood stayed collected, while some streamed down both sides of his abdomen. "Doctor!" She yelled.  
  
The doctor, accompanied by the nurse, came running. Noin backed away to let them do their work. Zechs, however, was unfazed. He had been through worse, and the interior of the wound had already healed, so it was merely the skin and about a centimeter below. The doctor's hands were skilled, but nothing like the beautiful assassin's were. After he had finished, he had restitched the wound, then looked to Zechs in an expression of question.   
  
"This looks like it was a stab wound."  
  
"It was," came Zech's husky voice.   
  
"It looks deep."  
  
"It was."  
  
"Well, let me get to the point here, Mr. Merquise. You could not have stitched and bandaged yourself."  
  
"I didn't."  
  
"Then who did?"  
  
"Does it matter?"  
  
The doctor went silent, giving a very skeptical look to the Lightning Count. They stayed like this for some time until Noin decided to intervene.  
  
"The main thing is that he is alive, I think that should be enough."  
  
Zechs closed his eyes for a moment, with his head very slightly bowed to Noin as if a silent 'thank you' for her understanding comment. The doctor looked to her, then back to Zechs, before he walked out the door.   
  
Zechs rose from the bed, returning the red muscle shirt on his body. Noin opened her mouth to ask where he got it from, but he raised his hand to stop her question. "A gift."  
  
It was then that the intelligent Lightning Count remembered that he had left his wallet, his sword, and his hidden gun in Suzuka's house. But he knew that it was already too late to retrieve them, and so he asked Noin to meet him for dinner later, before he retired to his chamber. He did receive a surprise, though, a surprise that almost caused him to raise the alarm. Almost.  
  
There, lying on his bed was his possessions that he had left at Suzuka's house, along with a lit candle on the nightstand, and a note in front of it, where white wax was slowly beginning to drip on it. He grabbed the note away from the candle before the wax burnt away the lettering, where in fine calligraphy was written:  
  
To Colonel Zechs Merquise of the Organization of the Zodiac,  
  
I have returned your belongings so that you may have them with you for identification. By the hour of seven I will expect to meet you outside the gates, in which my contract states that you must be eliminated. However, if you do not meet me outside of the walls of your compound and decide to run like a coward, I will seek you out and kill you anyway. It is not only my contract, but it is my pride. I suggest that you get everything in order before you come. I will say that it was a pleasure to meet you, and that it will be a shame.  
  
Suzuka.  
  
  
"Suzuka…" He whispered silently as he put the note to the flame, allowing the letter and paper to fall into the hunger of the flame. He could not take any chances of Noin finding out his whereabouts. In truth, he had no grasp over anything anymore. It seemed apparent that his death would come with the twilight, but he could not think of anything to prevent it. Did he have a chance if he tried to fight her? Did he have a chance if he tried to reason with her? He knew she had a heart within the rough exterior, but she was a contract killer. Did he really stand a chance against her sword?  
  
Zechs was broken from his thoughts when the flame licked his fingers, and it was then he set the remnants of the paper down on the glass table.   
  
'Who are you?  
I only can fight with my dream concealed.   
Far Off Dawn…'  
  
He was dressing into his full uniform when Noin knocked, then came into his room. She bore a soft smile when she saw him.  
  
"You did not have to get so dressed up, Zechs…"  
  
"I am sorry, Noin." He said as he fastened the buttons on his uniform, then the belt with his fencing sword. "I must cancel our appointment tonight."  
  
"Where do you have to go?"  
  
"Somewhere." He walked to the door. It was 6:50.  
  
"Zechs!" She yelled aloud, as she blocked the doorway. "Please, tell me. I need to know!"  
  
He looked down to her, her eyes were glistening with the tears he knew. She wanted him to be hers, more than any deep desire, far surpassing hate, anger, or pride. Deep within her, she knew that the small hope was lost, but she still pressed herself to hope.  
  
"Noin. Please—" The Lightning Count was cut from his sentence when he felt something warm against his lips, moist and wanting. He felt his eyes slip closed almost involuntarily – she had kissed him. It was a sweet sensation, one that made a shiver run up his spine and warmth come to his body. When he opened his eyes, however, the clock told him. It was 6:55.  
  
Gently, he put his hands on her shoulders to break the kiss enough to give him space to take a step back. Noin kept her eyes down and away from him, with a fierce blush upon her cheeks.   
  
But he said nothing as he walked past her, moving towards the main compound gate after leaving the chambers.  
  
It was 6:58, and a woman shrouded in the shadows waited for her exact time. 


	7. Death Smiles On Us All

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New, what do you own the world?!  
  
How do you own:  
  
Disorder, disorder.  
  
Now, somewhere between  
  
The sacred silence,  
  
The sacred silence and sleep.  
  
Disorder, disorder, disorder.  
  
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The air, there was something about it that made him shiver. The shadow cast by his tall form danced across the dew-wet grass, while small drops of water rained from the skies. Zechs walked on, silently, with his eyes always forward, and his head held high. In truth, he did not know what was going to happen to him. He could not believe that after everything Suzuka was going to kill him.  
  
Slowly, as he walked past the compound gates, the drizzle turned to rain, and the rain turned to a storm, as lightning split the great sky in a fury much like the fury he held safely locked within his heart. There was something strange about this night, something he could not place. It was as if, instead of the smell of his own death, he sensed that it would be someone else's. He could only hope that his senses - his instincts - were very wrong.  
  
As Zechs moved away from the soldier outposts and into the brush, the rain slowed down, then stopped altogether. As for him, he was soaked to the very bone, with water droplets falling from his platinum-blonde hair. He did not really care, he only knew that he would use what strength he had to try and talk some sense into Suzuka. If not, he would be forced to fight her, although, he knew that it would be a short battle. He knew what the outcome would be.  
  
The grass was green, and shining in the moonlight which had cast its shadows over the waning evening. Everything now had a silvery glow; it was refreshing, and peaceful to see the beauty amongst the turmoil.  
  
As he neared an empty valley which was well-hidden amongst the brush, his ice-blue eyes darted from the left, and to the right. He saw nothing, although, he could not rely on his sense of hearing, as there was much movement due to the quick bout of rain. The storm clouds were flying overhead; a telltale sign that there would still be more rain to come.  
  
Zechs stood to the far right side of the clearing. It had just struck the hour of 7:00.  
  
It was his sign. Even amongst the smell of fresh rain, he could smell the faintness of cherry blossoms and juniper. She had come, directly on time. He was right. When he turned to look in front of him, there, standing on the full opposite of him, was Suzuka. Twilight Suzuka.  
  
Suzuka bore her stare straight into his soul. She was here to test him, and nothing more. That was all her orders allowed. She was to see how true of a man he really was. Her plan was to rush at him full force, but stop, right before the blade were to come in contact with his side with precision and accuracy. If he would try to run like a coward, she would have the reason and means to kill him. If he were to stand with his weapon ready, she would simply leave, until her orders were to do else.  
  
As much as Suzuka stared into him, he stared straight back. He was not about to let this woman see any fear that hid long asleep within his soul. He did not fear. He would not fear. It was as simple as that.  
  
For five minutes, both of them stood there, sizing each other up. Suzuka stood perfectly still, with only the wind to move her clothing and her hair. Her right hand, where a ring on her middle finger attached to a red glove-like cloth, held her wooden katana, in which he never saw her without. The silence was broken, when Suzuka raised her sword up to the heavens, and then brought it down, so she held it out perfectly at her right side. Zechs drew his sword, and held it out to the side she would be attacking on to hopefully parry the blow that was about to happen.  
  
The rain stopped totally, as a full silence engulfed the two. Zechs had decided not to try to talk to her, her mind was made up, as was his. He could feel the primordial blood flowing within him, the adrenaline rushing through his veins like lightning through water. It was invigorating, and somehow, horrifying. Was he turning into a heartless soldier that lived only for the thrill of the kill?  
  
A single instant passed, and Suzuka's feet were quick. She began to run toward him, at a full speed, with her sword held out. Zechs' feet were hardly as quick, but he began to run for her as well, a mean look within his icy eyes. The space between them was running out, and neither of them faltered. Seven feet. Six feet. Five feet...  
  
It happened quickly. A sound of slashing, a rush of blood. Warmth spread all over Zechs' body, and he saw red, for blood covered his eyes. He was disoriented, had he been hit? Was this his death?  
  
He felt a limp body fall into his arms, and he felt his fingers brush against a fresh, gaping wound. Had he hurt Suzuka? How could this be?  
  
He rubbed the blood away from his eyes, and almost screamed at what he saw. What he was holding was not Suzuka, for she stood a few feet away, her boken covered in blood and her expression horrified. He did not want to look down. He knew now who he held.  
  
Noin lay gasping for breath within his arms. Suzuka had turned her sword upward, to hold it to his neck, but as she did, she slashed from Noin's navel to her neck. Zechs' eyes were wide, as he looked down to the bleeding victim in his arms.  
  
"NOIN!!!" He was frantic. Her blood was all over him, it was covering the grass underneath them. He knelt in it, and was practically bathed in her life's fluid. It was then that the rain began to fall, there was now so much water, but it hit softly.  
  
Noin looked up to him with half-lidded eyes. "I... couldn't let you die, Zechs..." She gasped for air, as more blood seeped from her open chest. Suzuka's sword had cut her lungs, and blood was slowly coming from Noin's mouth. "I... have always loved you.... I...." She gasped. "I... was destined... to love you.... Please... remember... that....and... forgive me..."  
  
Suzuka watched the scene with a face of shock, as the rain slowly washed away the blood from her boken. She could stay no longer. She took one step backward, and then two, until the rain, like a curtain, covered her.  
  
Zechs pulled her up, and held her to him, as his own tears mixed with the rain that kept falling, as if tears from Heaven. He rocked back and forth a few times, holding her as if she were nothing but a rag doll. "I'll save you... I promise, Noin... I promise..."  
  
"I... love... you..." She whispered, before Zechs felt her go limp within his arms.  
  
"No..." He released her somewhat, to look into her face. "No... Noin... No..." He shook her slightly, but he knew it would do no good. Noin's eyes were closed, as they would be forever. "Lucrezia..."  
  
He pulled her to him again, holding her tightly, with possessiveness and protectiveness that he could never have known better. The rain fell hard now, covering both him and her, and cleaning away most of the blood, as the ground drank its fill. Zechs did not know how long he had kneeled there with her, holding her, but it was morning before the soldiers came. The rain was still falling, harder than ever. Zechs was soaked far more than just to the bone. But it was humid, and so the rain was not cold, but it felt like a thousand knives to him. The soldiers simply stood there, gaping at the sight they saw. Both of the two figures were matted with blood, but Noin was now stiff and cold to Zechs' touch. It did not run through the soldiers' mind that it could have been Zechs; they would have rather died then to think such a thought.  
  
After a few moments, one of the soldiers finally stepped forward. "Sir."  
  
This seemed to bring Zechs out of his trance, as he looked up with pained eyes to the soldier. However, he quickly fixed his expression, as he stood up very slowly, with Noin in his arms. The soldiers took a few steps back, all of them realizing that now was not the time to ask what had happened. "I... will go tell the compound leader, Sir." One of the soldiers said, before he jogged ahead of all of them at a brisk pace.  
  
Zechs followed the soldiers that were walking toward the compound, with his head bowed, and his ice-blue eyes lost of spirit. His best friend had just... died. He had her blood all over him, and he held her lifeless body in his hands. Until now, he had not really thought of Suzuka, but now he thought of her with anger. Pure anger. Noin had taken the blow that was to be his; she had died with the death that was to be his own. She was trying to defend him, true, but he would have rather died a thousand deaths then to live through what had just happened again. And Suzuka had just left.  
  
He supposed it was for the better, he did not know what he could have done to her had she stayed. But he knew that in all truth, Suzuka had done nothing wrong. Noin had interfered, and so had chosen her own fate by Suzuka's hand. However, to know that his best friend was killed by a woman... a woman he had once held in high regard... ate at his flesh like acid.  
  
Upon reaching the compound, a group of formal-looking soldiers ran to meet him, and saluted him. He knew that it was time; Noin could not stay preserved forever, even if he held her that long. Slowly, he handed her cold body to four of the soldiers, who held her with the utmost care, as if holding a body made of spun sugar, which could fall apart at any moment. He watched, as they bowed their heads, and walked her into the compound, where she would be prepared for her own sending. As for him, he went to find something that he had always wanted to give her.  
  
Hours upon hours had passed, and they were to make the funeral late in the evening instead of the next day, else she would not be in good condition. Zechs discussed with the soldiers about who would take her place, it was hard for him to talk of her as if she were dead. He was so lost, he felt as if his soul had been ripped from his body. He was not ready to join Noin, however, although he accepted death when it would come, it had not come for him yet, and so he stayed on the earth, among the pain, suffering, and hatred. So much hatred, too much pain for his weary soul to bear. It was almost as if he could hear his own clock, he could feel his own time running out, and it was as if death watched him closely now, waiting for its time to claim him. Soon. It would be soon. Until then, he would remain.  
  
He showered, and dressed, in the same formal attire that he was to wear to meet Suzuka. His old clothes had been discarded; he did not even wish to look at him. Looking back on when she had been wounded, it made his stomach writhe. It was not the sight of the blood - it was the feel of it. Warm, sticky, and dark, it was not even red until it was lightly layered on his skin. The rest of it was almost black, so dark in crimson, and warm. It was her life that was poured on him, it was her life that the ground drank from her, and he had cried as he helplessly watched it leave her form and watched as his promise was broken. He had promised to save her, and that haunted him, how he did not. But there was nothing more that could be done, there was nothing more that he could do. He sighed.  
  
All the soldiers in the compound were slowly walking out of their rooms, faces grim. Zechs would shed no more tears for her, what was done was done. But in his heart, he mourned, while in his hand, he held a single, white rose.  
  
The funeral lasted long, but no one cared. The formality was beautiful, as the soldiers shot their rifles into the air to honor their fallen lieutenant. Zechs watched, the knowledge setting in that after Noin would be sent that he would be questioned on her death. He doubted that anyone would believe an assassin carrying a wooden sword would have come to kill her, and they would question his presence. They were inside at the moment, while the short gunfire was outside. Slowly, the soldiers shuffled out, some simply leaving, while some walked up to the open casket to pay their respects.  
  
They had masked her wounds well, her uniform that she would wear to her grave showing no markings of her bloody death. After all the soldiers had left, and Zechs saw himself alone, he walked up to her casket, his boots sounding on the marble floor. They would come soon to take her and bury her exactly where he had told them, on the far right of the compound, on the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. Since they had been moved to this compound, he had seen her sitting on it, overlooking the ocean with starry eyes. If she had a choice, this is where she would want it, and so this is where she would rest.  
  
"I am sorry... I could not keep my promise to you." He gently lifted two of her fingers to place the thorn less rose in her grasp. "May you rest now, Noin, you have left the agony of this world, and have left your agony behind." He leaned down, and gently placed a kiss upon her cold forehead. "I will see you again someday, but not yet. Not yet."  
  
Zechs stood there silently for a few more moments, before he shook his head, and walked out of the small building to join the other soldiers. As soon as he walked out, a figure stepped from the back shadows of the small room. Her eyes were like midnight fire, only dimmed. She had never seen such... compassion. He had held her body and... cried. She had killed those who interfered before, but, she had never had a reaction to it. She was an assassin, she had no remorse, and she had no regrets... But she had them now, as she walked up to the casket, with a silk, red ribbon in her hand.  
  
Silently at first, she raised one of Noin's hands, wrapping the silk ribbon delicately amongst her fingers, before she placed her hand back on the rose. After doing this, she made a signal in her hands, and bowed. "... So that you may be received." Suzuka did not say that she was sorry, for it was not needed. In her heart, the apology was given, and the forgiveness as well. The regret now lifted from her body, she left out of the side door as silently as she had come.  
  
"Death smiles on us all." 


	8. Strange Emotions

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Come night comes shadows to your side,  
  
Come night comes every tear you cry.  
  
Come night so comes your time to be.  
  
Come night comes sacred to my heart.  
  
Come night so comes your time to die.  
  
Come night comes everything,  
  
Come night, come night I reign...  
  
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The sadness was apparent in the air, which was cold, and pierced Zechs' worn flesh like a thousand knives. He greeted the soldiers grimly as they walked up to give their respects, then as they filed out to go to where Noin would be buried. He went back into the small room, to look at Noin one last time before the coffin was closed, and when they would take her to her final resting place.  
  
He walked to the coffin, and looked down at her one last time. However, he immediately noticed the scarlet ribbon wrapped around her slender hand. He could have sworn that when he left, he was the only one. There was only one explanation, which chilled him, yet warmed him somehow in a way he could not express. The warmth was a mixture of many things; it was a mixture of anger, excitement, and hope. Sadness overpowered his feelings as well, as he looked around the room frantically.  
  
"Suzuka?! Suzuka!" He looked around the room, around every corner, among every shadow. "Damnit, Suzuka! If you're here..." He kicked one of the chairs clear across the room, and sunk to his knees. "...Answer me... Suzuka..."  
  
But he got no reply. Suzuka stood on the rafters, looking down at him with eyes that burned with resolve, yet dimmed with the sadness that coated the air like fog. She wished so much to talk to him, but about what, she had no idea. She knew the secret that he chose not to see - she knew the reason of his true being that he would not see. She had a choice to reveal it, but she did not. It would be too much on him, he had suffered far too much. But he was still warm, he bled, he felt... Something she could not comprehend.  
  
She watched quietly, as Zechs allowed the men through that would carry Noin's coffin. He looked at her for the final time, before the mahogany lid was closed... forever. He sighed, as he watched them leave, the rest of the soldiers from the compound proceeding in a line after them. He stayed in the small room for a few more moments, among the flowers which were now wilting, but the roses kept their full allure. As he walked out, he stopped, but only for one moment. His sense of smell seemed to be keener to the scents he most remembered... And the smell he remembered most, however faint it now was, was the smell of cherry blossoms and juniper, which wafted far over the smell of the freshly-picked flowers, over the smell of sadness, over the smell of clean carpet... But he did not turn back, even though he knew she was there. Instead, he only said:  
  
"Speak to me when this is all over, I will listen." And with that, he walked behind the rest of them.  
  
Suzuka's eyes had widened the moment he had spoken. How had he known that she was there? She was perfectly silent; she had done nothing but blink. He had... known, somehow, and had spoken, because he knew that she would listen. It had begun to scare her, how he could sense when she was there. None the less, she left the small room, to go back to the compound to wait to give him the audience he asked for.  
  
About an hour and a half had passed, and now Zechs stood alone, standing at the foot of the new mound of black dirt. The headstone had Noin's name written in a beautiful manuscript, then words of hope on her journey to Heaven. He sighed, the wind whipping his gray trench coat and platinum locks to the right. He said something silently under his breath, his own respects to her, before he turned, and began the walk back to the compound. There were still soldiers on the outposts, but they watched their posts grimly, with one, almost falling asleep. Normally, he would have gotten after them, but he simply did not have it within him anymore. With the night would come sleep, and he could only hope that it would clear away his feverish mind.  
  
The compound leader stopped him on the way to his chambers.  
  
"I would like to have a conference with you in the morning. My office, 6:00 a.m." His voice sounded somewhat angry now.  
  
Zechs could only nod, silently, before he returned to his chambers and swiftly locked the door.  
  
"How did you... Know that I was there, in that room?" A calm voice sounded, as the woman stepped from the shadows.  
  
Zechs turned to her, expecting that she would be there. "I..." He couldn't tell her the truth, that he could literally smell her. "Sensed you... In a way."  
  
She looked at him, before she looked to his sword. "Put it away."  
  
"I wouldn't hurt--"  
  
"Put it away." She repeated.  
  
It was Zechs' turn to look at her oddly, but he did as she asked, and took his sword belt off, as well as his gun, and placed them both on the table. She, in turn, put her boken on the table beside his sword.  
  
She kept her back against the wall, and he looked at her silently. There were no words exchanged, there were none that he could think to say. He had asked her to speak, but she was not, nor did she plan to. They just stood there, until he stepped forward to her, as if by no apparent reason. She looked at him now, with wondering eyes, as to why he would do something like that.  
  
No words were spoken. His eyes bore far into hers, as he placed both of his hands on the wall beside her head, as if trapping her. She let out a small gasp, as he brought his face mere inches from hers. She had never allowed someone to get so close before, her space had been violated... but... She did not exactly fight it, she was more in shock.  
  
His next move was something neither him nor her expected. He dipped his head, as well as turned it to the side slightly, and took her lips within his own. This was unlike any kiss he had ever received, it send chills through his very being, through his very core in which he thought lost forever. The passion of it, he couldn't mask it, he could not begin to even try and explain the utter feeling of want, the feeling of no control. By this time, he had expected her to push him away, to leave as quickly as she could. But she didn't.  
  
Unspoken feelings, when finally released in the form of actions, can be dangerous to both beings. She had a blurry red line running straight across her face; she had never been kissed before. She would have never allowed it, but something within her wanted her to allow it. Something in her... wanted him to never stop. Something in her returned the kiss.  
  
She placed her right hand on his cheek, and returned the kiss, as if she had known all along. She supposed it was instinct, or just her own need willed to his own. He breathed in her scent, now more strong than anything he had ever experienced. It was like a perfume, strong, enticing, and intoxicating. It was everything and it was nothing, it overpowered his senses, and filled his lungs with air that he could never have enough of. The night had fallen already, and with no light in the room, it was completely dark. He continued the kiss, breathing in the fresh scent that was she - breathing in sensations he never knew were possible, breathing in his long-lost passion for love. Out of tragedy had come these feelings... Had he had them all along? Did she love him back, or did he even love her? Was it just a mix of emotions?  
  
Suzuka's eyes were closed; she had never felt so vulnerable before. She had never allowed it, why was he so different? What had he done to her?  
  
For a few more moments, he worked his lips against hers before he was forced to break it. Both of them needed air badly, as if both of them could barely breathe during their meet. He could not explain anything. He could not explain what he was feeling, or why, or even what he hoped to feel. He had literally melted into her, consumed by her overpowering scent and burning passion.  
  
Both of them were silent. Zechs finally took a step back, returning his arms to rest at his sides. Suzuka held a hand to her mouth softly, as she breathed in shaky breaths. She knew she still had the fierce blush on her cheeks, and her entire body felt hot, as if she had butterflies in her stomach and throat. She wanted to scream, she wanted to hurt him... But why? Because he had kissed her? Because he had gotten past her defenses she spent her entire life raising?  
  
Zechs opened his mouth to apologize, but found that he could not. He did not want to apologize, from what he had felt; it seemed she had wanted it as much as he. He could not try to explain why he had done it... He had never realized what feelings he possessed until that one, frantic moment. The silence was awkward, he could think of nothing to say, and so Suzuka quickly moved to the table, where she picked up her boken, then turned to him, still with the blush, although she kept her eyes everywhere but to his.  
  
"I... Later... To discuss... what you must know." She looked to the window, and opened it. She dreaded when she would tell him, but now, she had so many feelings she had spent her life trying to suppress. They had all surfaced, and with one kiss. As soon as she left his chamber, and he closed the window without looking at her, she cursed to herself.  
  
"I cannot... especially... with him..." She looked to the chamber window one last time, before checking her area, then running quickly past the compound gates.  
  
He watched her leave, feeling the same inner sadness overtake him. Noin had just been buried, was it possible that he only kissed her out of a fit of emotions? But why did he feel like he did?  
  
`Why... does my body ache... and...' He sighed, and then lied down on his bed, looking up to the ceiling. He had truly never felt that way for anyone. This was something so strange, he couldn't place it. Why this woman? She was a professional assassin, he had seen more women to last him a lifetime and beyond, yet they never had an impact on him. He had never truly shared a kiss with anyone besides Noin, but hers was so different... He did not truly feel anything with that kiss, nothing compared to the kiss that he shared with Suzuka. And he had initiated it... He could not even begin to comprehend why. He just... felt something within him, which compelled him to just... kiss her. And he knew, that he wouldn't be forgetting that kiss soon.  
  
And now, as he lied down on his bed thinking, he wished for her to return... The woman who had compelled him to do something he had not thought possible, to feel things he had not thought he could ever feel... The woman, with eyes as bright as midnight fire, and skin as fair as the moonlight, who came with the nightfall and left with the morning...  
  
She, who calls herself Twilight Suzuka, the owner of his kiss.  
  
A/N: Ok, hi everyone. Some people are asking, `Daaaamyyyyt, person, what's up with the ghost bookstore thing?' You know what I have to say to you all? WAIT. I never leave a point unsaid in a finished story, and I'm on a deadline for this so you people need to waaait. It will be explained in time, I promise, so hold your chocobos till then, ya? *Giggles* How'd you like this? C'mon people, PLEASE review... I've been moping around school at all you readers because, well, I actually like this story and I enjoy writing it and no one reviews. I'm beginning to feel like this is a bad story... Questions? Comments? Please IM me at AuronSilencer. Yes, AuronSilencer. Just clicky the little button and IM me, I wun bite. But PLEASE, even if it's one WORD, review! Tell me I am actually making some progress! PLEASE! 


	9. Defeated And Alone

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Your words can mean just a whisper,  
  
Your face is so unclear.  
  
I try to pay attention,  
  
But the words just disappear.  
  
Oh, `cause it's always raining in my head.  
  
Oh, forget the things I should have said.  
  
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Suzuka sat in darkness, save for the warming glow of the fire in front of her. She sat in a wooden chair, with her boken leaning against the un-polished wood. Her ebony eyes stared straight into the flames, reflecting their luminescent glow. She was confused, hurt, and even sad. He had had no reason to do what he did, and she had no reason to react to it, but she did. She now realized that she did not want to kill him, she couldn't know, and she cursed herself for it. She had never backed out of a job because she had never broken the `golden rule', to get attached to who she was contracted to kill.  
  
She stood, slowly at first. Her eyes never blinked, nor did they leave the flame as she reached down and took the boken from the floor and into her hand. She had come to a decision, one that would save both her and Zechs as well from doing what she knew she could not do. She would kill the man who gave her the contract, and solve the problem.  
  
A man named Treize Khushrenada.  
  
----  
  
A dark-crimson liquid stained the sides of the wine glass, as Treize's hand moved to circulate the wine within the glass. He too, was sitting in front of a burning fire, in which every now and then he would take his eyes away from the flame to take a sip of the well-aged liquid. To the side of him, on a desk, sat his laptop, in which information about someone was being displayed. Over, and over, the same information, the same pictures, touched the screen, and then faded away. He watched the screen far more than the flame, far too interested in the person displayed to take his eyes from her. He was fascinated by this woman, this, assassin who he had hired. He knew, he knew that the bastard would have the charm to take her away from her work.  
  
"I know you all too well, Zechs. You charmed her out of it. It seems that I have more work to do than I thought," he said as he took a drink of the wine, and then set the empty glass down. Slowly, he reached out his hand, and flipped the laptop off. He did not have much information, the past of this girl could not be found in any of his records. However, he had her house under constant surveillance. He had seen Zechs and her enter the house, stay, and leave.  
  
This angered him beyond belief.  
  
"Tsk, tsk, Suzuka..." He said, as he stood. His pale hand reached out, and pressed a small, red button after lifting the lid. He had a hunch of what her next move would be, and he would be ready. He would be ready.  
  
-----  
  
It was early morning, and Zechs stood in his soldier's garb at the foot of Noin's grave. The dirt was still fresh, the headstone still clean. It was only three days ago that she had been alive and well, talking to him... loving him in secret...  
  
"Oh, Noin..." He whispered, as he knelt down in the dirt. "Please forgive me." He touched the dirt, which caved in at his touch. He immediately drew his hand away. The dirt had been disturbed, it seemed to have been dug up then placed back in a hurry, without even packing the black soil back into place. He shook his head quickly. "I'm paranoid..."  
  
Zechs rose, with platinum locks falling into his hardened eyes. He wanted to talk to Suzuka, to explain to her the wrong he had done... But he felt like she would never come back, not after what he did. But she... kissed back. He kept repeating this in his mind, as if a broken record, to know that he did not do what he did all for nothing or for mixed emotions entirely. He couldn't place what it was, but it was something he had never truly felt before, and in truth, he feared it. He feared it more than death, because he had long ago chosen to accept death when it would come to him. He feared it so much, and he did not even know what it was. It ate away at his soul, at his core, which was not used to the fear, which was not used to the feeling of excitement and sensuality. It was all so new to him, and he was not ready for the change.  
  
However, what bothered him as he moved to stand was who would have a contract to kill him, and who would pay Suzuka money to do so. What also vexed him is why she did not take the time to kill him when she had the perfect chance, when they were so close that barely a breath could be breathed, a word uttered out of numb lips. She would have found the perfect time had she done it, but she didn't, and it vexed him to no end. Had she changed? What of her pride?  
  
These thoughts ran rapid through his mind as he walked back to the compound, the wind blowing his hair away from his face, while traveling through the green land...  
  
---  
  
The manor was dark, as Suzuka entered using a key that was taken from a soldier who now lay dead at his post. It was quiet... Almost too quiet. Her bare feet made no sound on the green marble floor, she had removed her shoes and hid them upon entry, so as to make less sound. Her garments moved slightly around her ankles, but not a single rustle. She was expecting the place to be filled with soldiers, but the halls were quiet, and dark.  
  
She realized she had fallen into an intricate trap.  
  
Immediately she turned, to go back. Her reflexes were quick, she was able to turn and block a gunshot with her boken. But in the same instant, two strong arms wrapped around her in a choking hold; keeping her arms in place. She did not even have time to realize that her boken was being ripped from her hands, while about twelve more soldiers came from the shadows, with their guns aimed at her.  
  
A voice whispered in her right ear, a voice that she knew all too well. "Why, Suzuka... How nice of you to drop in at such an opportune time. Did you honestly think you could kill me?"  
  
Treize looked to the soldiers, as three grabbed her, while he let go. "Take her to the... questioning room, please. And put her sword somewhere."  
  
She struggled against them, but found it to no avail. They only held her tighter, as she thrashed within their arms that seemed to be made of steel. She couldn't cry out, the walls would echo it, but it would do no good.  
  
About a minute passed, as the soldiers carried her into a room that was completely white, save for the shackles that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room, and the ones for feet that stayed on the floor. Her eyes widened, she had never been captured before, and from the looks of it, this questioning room went a little further then friendly babble.  
  
As much as she struggled, the soldiers were able to shackle her wrists within the black steel. Her arms remained elevated above her head, her elbows bent slightly. However, before they could shackle her feet, she lashed out with one foot, successfully kicking one of the soldiers in the groin.  
  
"Bitch!" He fell to his knees, groaning with displeasure. "Get her shackled!"  
  
The soldiers did so quickly. Suzuka was completely immobilized. Her feet were shackled to the floor, while her arms were shackled above her head. Her eyes burned with anger at the soldier's backs as they left the room.  
  
`Are they just going to leave me here to die...?'  
  
Her question was proved in vain, as another figure walked through the door. It was Treize, with a confident smile upon his unscathed face. He looked to her, still keeping the smile. "Quite useless without your sword, aren't you? Too bad, too bad... No one is going to come and save you this time. Say la vi."  
  
Suzuka successfully spat on his face, and he simply wiped it away with his sleeve. "Such spirit... Such pride. But of course, pride can be ripped away... As easily as..." He took out a pocket knife, holding it to her chest. "Cloth, for example."  
  
He chuckled softly as he used the knife skillfully, cutting down the front of her garment until her stomach. From that point, he took both sides of the cloth in his hand, and ripped the rest away, so the pieces of white and red cloth lay gathered at her feet. Suzuka felt vulnerable and weak, she only had white cloth tied around her chest, and an undergarment for her bottom half. Her skin was pale, but unscathed as it seemed to stand out more in the completely white room, which now seemed to have no door. Her breath came in heavy gasps, as Treize laughed.  
  
"Not so tough now, I see. But beautiful, might I add."  
  
"If you lay a hand on me I will make sure that you die a thousand deaths." She spat.  
  
"Such strong words..." He said, as he placed a hand on her stomach, and then circled around her, trailing his hand over her skin. She shivered involuntarily; no one had ever touched her like that. Her face was red with humiliation, her body shivering with her own vulnerability. The only sound that could be heard in the room was her own harsh breathing along with his.  
  
"Surrender to me..." He said quietly, seeming to admire her with a distant look in his eyes. "And I will let you free."  
  
"I would rather die."  
  
"So be it." He drew back his hand, and slapped her across the face. Her head stayed to the left from the snap, with her eyes closed.  
  
"I will take you in time. You should have just stayed by the contract... But until then, think about my offer. I have... business to attend to." With that, he turned off the lights, and left the room.  
  
Suzuka cried out softly, in anger and pain. Her eyes could see nothing in the darkness, so she hung with her eyes down cast, defeated and alone.  
  
AN: Please review, make me feel better. 


	10. Something to Live For

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What I've felt,  
What I've known.  
Never shined through in what I've shown.  
Never free,  
Never me.  
So I dub thee Unforgiven.  
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The moon reflected its inviting light onto the still waters as Zechs stood watching from its soft banks. He was completely silent, as if to be reverent to its beauty - to its perfect and haunting silence.   
  
The forest around him did not make a sound. He breathed in, deeply, as the cool, clean night air filled his lungs and calmed his raging spirit. All of his feelings were in disarray - he had lost the control that he had worked his entire life to perfect… the control that Suzuka had taken from him in one, fleeting moment that he blamed himself entirely for.  
  
However, he still tried to figure out why she did not push him away when he touched his lips to her trembling own. As much as he still despised the thought of having done it for his own pride's sake, as much as he tried to push it from his rushing mind, he still remembered every single detail about that one moment. He remembered her intoxicating, yet beautiful scent, how it filled his lungs with more calm than the night air, and more passion than his own withered soul could profess. He remembered her soft lips and her sweet blush. Still now, he couldn't bring himself to admit what had compelled him to kiss her.  
  
He knew that he had to get her out of his thoughts. He knew, that after what he did, she would probably never return - contract or not. However, upon thinking of the contract, lists began to form in his mind… Lists of people who would have the money and the right mind to send an assassin to kill him on his own compound grounds.  
  
Even though many names raced through his mind, he knew only one was truly possible. It would have to be a man with great wealth beyond belief, and a mind that had always known the tactics to create the perfect war, and end it in his own way, exactly as planned.  
  
A man named Treize Khushrenada.   
  
---  
  
It had been more than eighteen hours since her capture. Blood ran like an intricate spider web down both her arms and to her shoulders, the result of her constantly pulling upon her wrist shackles to no avail. Her body ached, and she was beginning to feel the light pangs of hunger within her stomach. Although her wrists bled, she had lost practically all feeling from her shoulders up. The room had not been opened once since Treize had left, but the darkness provided some comfort among her racing thoughts.  
  
Again, she tried to pull her shackles from the ceiling, but only received the warm sensation of blood as it covered more of the pale skin on her arms. She too, had always been in control of every move, but Zechs and Treize had taken it from her alike. Treize had indeed made her an offer, but she had already vowed that if that was her only option, she would choose to die.  
  
Now, as she hung in the middle of the darkened cavity, she began to wonder about Zechs. If he ever knew of her capture, would it be too late? And if not, would he even try to save her? Would he give a damn?  
  
"Probably not," she said to herself and to the void, with a sad, yet knowing smile on her face. "All men are the same, after all…"  
  
Suzuka felt light headed and weak. She had never truly felt so vulnerable. Treize had humiliated her and her pride, and he knew it, all the same. As far as she could tell, there seemed no real way to escape, unless she tried to bend to Treize's wishes… 


	11. Mr. Morningshine

Author's Note: Well wowee… This took a long time. But it's spring break! So gimme a break people, it's 4:00 in the morning and I just got inspiration! Mwa! Why no song? I actually was listening to an instrumental, sorry to break the lovely pattern...  
  
  
Metal… It was always the sound of metal. Like swords, one on the other, over, and over, and over again in a dance of death and true, honorable beauty. A bout of strength, agility, honor, and pride, all rolled into one perfect package, a duel.   
  
It was always there in his dreams, the sound, the reflection of light off the polished steel.   
  
Was it his destiny, his future?  
  
Blood… Everywhere. Staining his sight, filling his lungs and drowning him in a sea of hatred and sadness.   
  
Metal on metal, sparks, noise, then…  
  
"Suzuka!"   
  
Zechs opened his eyes, ice-blue orbs seeming to take on their own glow within the dark confines of his room. The moon was shadowed by the clouds, as rain pelted the window outside, and thunder rolled overhead. He tried to check his clock, but the time wasn't showing. His lamp wasn't working.  
  
"The power must have gone out…" Zechs said to himself.  
  
--  
  
Ring.  
  
A simple noise that caused him to practically jump from the bed. He was sitting in perfect silence, until that sound reached his ears, harsh and shrill. He turned his head to the right, as he fumbled on the nightstand for his cellular phone; flipping it open when he found it.  
  
Without so much as a hello, he put the cold receiver to his ear.  
  
"Why, if it isn't Mr. Morningshine. How are you doing? Well, I hope. So glad you were awake, I was beginning to wonder if you had died… Of course, it would take more than a few bullets to kill you, wouldn't it?"  
  
Zechs narrowed his eyes, as his grip on the phone tightened some. He knew the voice, cold, arrogant, and cruel.   
  
"With not even so much as a hello, why isn't that quite rude."  
  
"What do you want," came Zechs' controlled reply.  
  
"Ah, well, I'd wonder if I could interest you in a trade, perhaps?"  
  
"No." Zechs was about to flip the phone off, when Treize's voice came louder.  
  
"But I have something that I just know you want."  
  
"You have nothing I want."  
  
"Oh, but I do. Next to me here is quite the lady, I've had to resist taking her thus far. Tempting, though. I wonder if she's a virgin?"  
  
Zechs' eyes immediately went from anger to shock mixed with deep, unbidden rage.  
  
"And her name, as I believe, is Suzuka."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Waaiii. Short, I know. But hey. It's crappy, but hey. I just couldn't spit this chapter out, so 12 will be much better. I promise. 


	12. Walking in the Rain

Zechs allowed the pouring rain to hit his form; soaking through every layer of his former soldier's attire. In a certain sense, it calmed him as it fell into his eyes and ran off his pale features. His eyes were narrowed, more in sadness than in anger, but the scale seemed to tip to either favor depending on this thoughts.  
  
He knew that he could very well be marching to his death…  
  
'But for what? Would she even care? Do I even know why?'  
  
The rain seemed to only fall harder, as his bangs became firmly matted to his forehead, and his hair now stuck to his white uniform. His sword felt heavier at his side, seeing as the rain was slowly seeping in through the hilt, and collecting around his blade.  
  
To hold her in his arms, to call her his and to be hers… it was all just a far-off dream, like the dawn that seemed now, so far away with the rain. He thought of her often; but each time the hard reality hit him, weightier than the last. She would never have him, he knew… Yet he was still ready to give his life for her, it was his honor.  
  
And no matter how he thought of it, Suzuka would be safe, and that, in itself, was enough satisfaction for what he was about to step into.  
  
----  
  
Her dark, ebony eyes watched wide in weakness and horror as the blue tinted liquid slowly made its way to fill the empty cylinder. Treize pressed the stopped only lightly, allowing some of the liquid to squirt from the top, and into a small cup he had put on a makeshift table in the room, now lit.  
  
He smiled as he turned to her, with the syringe in hand. "You see… I always win, one way, or the other." He stepped close to her, so his breath was on her. "I can't continue to live my happy life with only haven taken Milliardo's life… You see? So I will take yours as well.  
  
"Then he will not come…" Suzuka replied, with as much strength as she was able.  
  
"I didn't say I would kill you now, did I? No, I didn't." He answered his own question with a smile. He gently brushed his fingers against her cheek, traced her jawline, and moved down her neck, so his hand was resting in the hollow between her breasts.  
  
Suzuka had barely the strength to speak, and so she barely struggled as his calloused fingers then moved up to tap the vein on her arm, before pushing in the needle unceremoniously.  
  
The liquid stung as it ran through her veins feeling like liquid fire. Her body trembled violent; the pain from it was more than the pain she had received from her bleeding wrists.   
  
Treize smiled.  
  
----- 


	13. I Stand Alone

Nothing Else Matters

Chapter Thirteen

"I Stand Alone…"

By: Dark Mousy

**_I've told you this once,_**

**_Before you controlled me._****__**

**_If you try to take me down,_**

**_You're going to break._**

**_I feel your every NOTHING,_**

**_Like you did before me._****__**

**_I'm thinking you are the failure on the way._**

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            Lightning split the sky, directly over the manor in which Treize lived. The flashing light illuminated the pasty complexion of the outer walls, and lighted the slightly reddish color on the Mediterranean style of the roof. From what he could see, it was guard-free, completely… But he knew that was only because of the other gadgets he had all around the house. 

            Zechs stood by the outer gate, examining with sharp eyes. Hidden in the so well-placed palm trees were machine guns complete with laser sight, in which he noticed when the lightning illuminated past the trees. There were a few lights on in the manor, but knowing the place from the one time he had been in there, Suzuka would either be held down in the 'Interrogation' chamber… Or his bedroom…

            The Lightning Count slowly reached into his uniformed pocket, and pulled out a grenade-like object. He examined his surroundings one more time, pulled the pin, and threw it into the grass on the other side of the fence.

            Immediately, the gas was released, and despite the rain, the laser beams could be seen well. Four layers, from the looks of it, and one false move would get him shot. 

            "If only Treize had a warmer invitation…" He mused, while he grabbed a small can from the pocket of his uniform, along with another small lighted device. He was able to hop the gate without any problems, knowing exactly which footholds to take and which ones would trigger the alarms. He had studied every detail perfectly… And he just hoped that nothing drastic had changed.

            The rain seemed to only fall harder, as the morning was slowly approaching. The gas grenade was slowly beginning to lose its steady stream and the daylight would make it impossible to see the beams. However, he finally spotted what he was looking for, nicely nestled into one of the palm trees containing a gun. The mother panel for the laser beams.

            Despite the pouring rain, the sun, of all days, was beginning to rear its ugly head over the horizon. Already, the gas was beginning to go out and the laser beams were becoming less and less visible. He began to work fast, and found that his fingers kept fumbling.

            In frustration, the elite soldier tore off his gloves, and was then able to use the small device skillfully. He attached it to the box, and looked to his watch, in which when the red light on the device began to blink, he pressed the timer on his watch.

            The first set of beams went out. He took a step, and was now face to face with the second set of beams in which he could no longer see. His watch beeped, and he held his breath as he took another step. Two sets of beams were aside, two more to go.

            Beep.

            Step.

            Beep.

            Step.

            Zechs was about to breathe a sigh of release, when a single piece of his hair fell in the way of the beams. All hell seemed to break loose at that precise moment. 

            He ran forward, with the mud from the grass getting onto what once was white pants. The patio was in sight, and if he could just make it…

            He heard shouting above him, deep shouting, from the inside guards whom he had managed to awaken. He grimaced as he felt a bullet graze his shoulder, but with a single last stride he was able to skid onto the patio, and the only thing to break his fall was the concrete… Which was not very merciful. 

            When he got up, slowly, and dejectedly tried to dust himself off, he found himself surrounded by twelve guns, cocked and ready. With only one glance of his eyes, he was able to count them, and able to see if they were properly loaded.

            They were.

            He knew this was a no win situation.

**_I stand alone._**

**_Inside._****__**

**_I. Stand alone._**

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            It was then that he remembered the timing device he left on the panel board. He slowly brought his hands together in front of him, showing them his sign of submission, as his eyes stayed focused and narrowed. As one of them began to move forward, he pressed the tiny-little button that was never supposed to be pressed. 

            Also known as the detonation button.

            He, along with the guards, fell to the floor from the afterwave of the attack. The machine guns had been thrown off their places, and were now shooting bullets in every direction…

**Author's Note: Man, this chapter sucked. Muse Mariachi bids you hello. Since he is my new muse, I still haven't gotten the basics plotted out with him and so, this chapter is a result of the suckiness. But hey, you're all creative, right? Use your imaginations and elaborate!**

**Oh! And I realized that I have no disclaimers what so ever on this story, at all, so, here goes.**

**Zechs Merquise and Twilight Suzuka don't belong to me, they belong to their rightful owners, I lay no claim, I get no money, I have no life, and so I write this crap assed story that has potential but I ruin it with my crap assed writing ability. . Anyway, the song Nothing Else Matters was written and performed by Metallica and I lay no claim, blah blah, any other songs that are used in this story are not mine, they are their respective owner's, I lay no claim, I make no money, I have no life. So on and so forth.**

**The bits of song used in this chapter and what will be used in the next chapter is Godsmack's "I Stand Alone", the theme song for the Scorpion King.**

**Yes, I know the lyrics are bad. Gimme a break, I can't understand what he's saying and there are no lyrics on the internet as of yet. Questions? Comments? Ask and I'll e-mail you. No flames, please, I've already established the suckiness of the story and I don't need to be reminded of it.**

**Once I get past this part the later chapters will be much better.**

**And I'm going to revise the entire thing later, on top of that.**

**Ciao!**


	14. Make Me Believe

Nothing Else Matters

Chapter Fourteen

"Make Me Believe…"

By: Dark Mousy

**_I'm not afraid of fading…_**

**_I stand alone._**

**_Feeling your sting down inside me,_**

**_I'm not dying for it._**

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**_I stand alone._**

**_Everything that I believe is fading…_**

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            "Ah, so our guest has finally arrived. Took him quite long enough…" Treize mused, as he sat behind his desk, in a completely dark room. "What he'll do is so simple… So predictable…" He laughed. "The perpetual hero." The gunshots eventually began to slow.

            "First, he'll make his way to my bedroom, to confirm that his worst fears have not been turned into a reality. Finding the bed empty and the sheets clean, he'll know the second place that she would be… So predictable… My puppet… But just wait until what you see… So predictable…"

            ---

            The sodden excuse for a man was running down the hall, the black leather of his boots shining in the eerie candle-like light that came from the ornate chandeliers hanging from the tall hallway ceilings. Beautifully haunting paintings lay splayed on the wall, angels, holy images…

            Zechs practically crashed into a wall, where it gave way and allowed him in. He found himself in a rather darkened hallway, now lit by only a single chandelier that looked as if it had not been dusted since the house was made. His ice-blue orbs took in the surroundings as a hawk would and his ears keen to any sounds that could be heard. Finding none, he began down the stone, closed spiral staircase.

            Upon reaching the bottom, he found nothing but a black room. He did not want to admit it, but he found his breath caught in his throat as his hands found the switch, and turned it on. He released a sigh as he found the room completely empty, but his eyes also widened at what he saw.

            The room was completely out of place. It was as if he had stepped into another world, and he felt himself drawn to the strangely haunting surroundings of the room. In one corner of the insanely large room was a king-sized bed, complete with a crimson comforter laced with gold infringement and solid, dark oak bed posts with a black mesh-like sheet that ran over them like a curtain. However, that was the only furniture in the entire room. The rest of the room was… Moving.

            Digital imaging… Some of the newest technology out that was only bought by those rich enough to buy it, it was like an art picture, only it changed, but it changed perfectly, making it look like a painting. However, the digital pictures were not of art… They were of… People…

            Zechs seemed to see the room spinning around him, as he stood solid within the middle. The floor was made of the same material, and different faces continued to show, and pictures of their death. All around him, flashing, changing, interchanging, bleeding, crying, fighting, dying…

            Zechs found himself dizzy from the room's effects, and he quickly leaned his hand against the wall closest to him for support. He slowly began to gain his bearings, when he noticed that picture his hand was on… And the picture did not change as quickly as the others.

            It was a familiar person… Eyes like midnight fire, skin as pale as the moon, hair as black as night… Her information was displayed next to her face, also noted with a 'non-deceased' tag…

            "Treize… You fucked up bastard…" Zechs could only mutter as he stood back, and immediately the room around him began to spin again. Treize knew he was there… Pictures and camera shots of her began to come up all around the room, the digital pictures swirling and conforming to her, every detail, every sick detail that could be seen from the bugs Treize planted…

            "You fucked up bastard! Can you hear me?!" Zechs yelled, his voice laced with deep anger as he drove his fist into the wall, and immediately the contorting images shut off, and he was left in almost complete darkness. No sooner had he thought he had peace, then the normal… Hardly normal pictures began to come back up again… And he slowly began to realize that the pictures were not only of people, they were all of soldiers… All the soldiers…

            And now, two more pictures caught his attention… Noin's, and his own… He stared in disbelief, as he moved forward…

There was Noin's picture, and then next to it read the following information:

**Name: Lucrezia Noin**

**Cause of Death: Killed in Action**

At first, it did not phase him, until he saw the last sentence… Her date of death… Which read… Five years ago…

**Name: Zechs Merquise**

**Cause of Death: Killed in Action**

Five years ago… 

            Zechs took a step back, and stumbled, finding the ground a harsh awakening that he had hoped for. However, when he looked back up, the same two pictures were still there… And the slowly began to switch… The pictures of death… How… 

            "What…Is this…?"

**_Now is my time,_**

**_It's my time to dream…_**

**_Dream of the sky…_**

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**_Make me believe that this place_**

**_Isn't made by the poison in me._****__**

**_Help me decide if my fire,_**

**_Will burn out before you can breathe…_**

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**_Breathe into me…_**

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**Muse Mariachi: Queso!**

**Author's Note: Are you confused?! Are you?! ARE YOU!??! AHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAH. AHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. AHAHHAHAHAHA…**

**Muse Mariachi: Queso!**

**Well… Wow… 2 chapters in one night. I rather liked how this one turned out. And if I don't get reviews there'll be hell to pay, I say, HELL!**

**Oh yah, it's ****11:30****… I have a Jap test tomorrow… That I haven't studied for… Ehehehe…**

**Muse**** Mariachi: ****Como**** estas tu llama?**


	15. I Am Here

Nothing Else Matters

Chapter Fifteen

"I Am Here"

By: Dark Mousy

**_This world may turn me down,_**

**_But I won't turn away._**

**_I won't duck and run,_**

**_'Cause I'm not built that way._**

****

**_When everything is gone,_**

**_There's nothing left to fear._**

**_This world cannot bring me down,_**

**_No, 'cause I am already here…_**

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            His steps faltered as he pushed himself out of the room blindly. A deep groan was emitted from his throat as he felt his back against the opposite wall, now out of the doorway to Treize's bedchamber. Quickly, he reached out his now bare hand, and closed the door, relishing in the temporary darkness that calmed his raging thoughts.

            _'It's all just a sick game to him… That's all it is…'_

_            He brought his hand to his face, moving his fingers so they rested against his skin instead of pressing his platinum-blonde bangs to his forehead which was already beaded with sweat. He couldn't fathom it; he literally could not, in the least, fathom how Treize thought. It was so unnerving, so perverse, so literally demonic and insane that he felt his stomach writhe at the thought of him. _

            Zechs' eyes shot open, as the dim chandeliers lighting the hallway made his eyes adjust. He knew the way, and as he stood upright and drew his gun, instead of confusion in his heart, there was now anger.

            Deep anger.

            Treize knew he was there, and since Zechs was there to make the exchange, the guards had obviously been cut off from their duties, because he saw none. His black boots sounded lightly on the white marble floor, but the empty halls echoed it down each seemingly endless corridor.

            He walked for many minutes, down corridors and twisting staircases until he was finally able to reach his destination. A small, black oak door made from the same material as the walls to blend in. He gently pressed his hand against it, and it immediately gave into his pressure, twisting until Zechs had enough room to push himself through.

            He was met with another hallway, this time, brightly lit. Down the small hallway that ended in a white steel door, there were maybe four cells, all bolted with titanium doors. He had been in this hallway once… And he remembered it well…

**_'Cause I can't take anymore of this,_**

**_I want to come apart._**

**_I'll dig myself a little hole,_**

**_Inside your precious heart._****__**

****

**_'Cause it's always raining in my head…_**

**_Forget all the things I should have said._**

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            "Suzuka…" He muttered, silently, as if she could hear. For some reason he felt muted… Deep down inside he did not want to see what could be waiting on the other side of the door… The room that she had been held in.

            He even stopped breathing. Faintly, he heard the sound of metal against metal, only barely, soft, and fine. He took a step forward slowly, towards the direction he continued to hear the faint noise that told him of where she was. How long had he kept her?

            He finally came to the second door to the last, and stood very near to it. The clanking of the metal stopped, and he immediately pulled back, and laid a single bullet into the lock, where the door quickly opened.

            Zechs was met by darkness, and he was unable to see anything. When he took a step forward, his foot sunk in lightly, and he knew it to be a padded room. 

            "Suzuka." He said, his voice deep, as he moved forward.

            Zechs stopped, when he heard a low groan. He knew she was right in front of him, he could smell the blood, and the faded scent of her…

Quickly, he moved back, to find the light switch. When he turned back to the middle of the room, his icy orbs narrowed at what he saw…


	16. Blaze My Trail

Nothing Else Matters

Chapter Sixteen

"Blaze My Trail"

By: Dark Mousy

**_They blazed the trail I dared to run,_**

**_They built this world and I have come._**

**_I need another, _**

**_Like a brother,_**

**_For a crying shoulder._**

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**_This could be the last time,_**

**_You will stand by my side._**

**_I can feel my soul,_**

**_It's bleeding._**

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**_Will you fly with me this evening?_**

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            Her face was pale, and her eyes were painfully closed in a weak and exhausted slumber. Her hair, which had fallen from her usual tie, now rested in disheveled strands that clung to her sweat-beaded forehead. Caked and dried blood left trails like an intricate spider's web down her arms and onto the virtually bare skin of her chest. 

            It was well apparent to his narrowed eyes that she had been stripped of all modesty she had hoped to preserve. He took a step forward, examining her, his eyes trailing over every wound. He was somewhat relieved to see that Treize had not hurt her in such a way.

            The silence lasted for a moment, and Zechs now stood in front of Suzuka. He could not hear her breathing, and he felt his hands lightly tremble at the thought of putting a finger to her throat and finding no pulse. As he reached forward with his hand, he saw her long lashes flutter, before they opened only slightly. He could still see the fire hidden deep within her ebony orbs, and a silent sigh of relief was released through his partially open mouth.

            Zechs was only aware of his breathing and her own within the quiet confines of the padded, purely white room. His eyes had radiated anger at first… For himself, for Treize, and for everything he could have said or done that he did not. But when Suzuka's eyes caught his, he felt it all fall away, like ornate sand between his fingers that brought a calming effect to his soul. 

            She had such power, such beauty, such grace, that every single movement she made was enchanting; like a dance of time that was never ending. A wounded, yet beautifully haunting dance that captivated him like nothing else could. Even when she remained still and even though she was wounded, it was still like a constant dance…

            Zechs quickly broke himself from the captivating trance, and moved forward to where Suzuka was hung from the ceiling. 

            It was as if the silence could be cut with a knife. No words were spoken between the two, and it was as if they both knew that none were needed. The silence was strange, yet welcome between the two. All they did was simply look at each other, yet the look that she gave him melted his vicious spirit away, and it would have, had he not the resolve to put an end to Treize's madness.

            The lock to Suzuka's shackles gave only a small amount of resistance, as Zechs' skilled hands worked the two thin metal pieces into the keyhole. A few clicking sounds were heard, which were painful to Suzuka's ears since she had been locked in the silence, and the darkness, for endless hours. 

            Finally, the lock that connected the titanium shackles was opened, and Suzuka's wrists were set free. Her feet hit the ground lightly, but her knees immediately buckled before, and she fell into Zechs. He lost his balance, and fell onto his back, his body doing a rebound effect off the padded surface, but he kept his arms firmly wrapped around her waist to prevent her from getting hurt.

            Zechs lied still, with her limp and thin form wrapped in his arms. Her head lolled, and rested on his shoulder, as her ebony strands fell onto his neck. He felt oddly calm, despite the circumstances, as he held her unconscious body closer to his as if in a protective embrace.

            "Even though I can only hold you in my arms just this once, Suzuka…" He trailed off, as he closed his eyes.

            "…I can die in peace."

**_All my work and,_**

**_Endless measures,_**

**_Never seem to get me very far._**

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**_Walk a mile just to,_**

**_Move an inch now, _**

**_Even though I'm trying so damn hard._**

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**_Trying so hard…_**

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	17. If You Could

Nothing Else Matters

Chapter Seventeen

"If You Could…"

By: Dark Mousy

**_If you could step into my head,_**

**_Tell me,_**

**_Would you still love me?_**

**_And if you woke up in my bed, _**

**_Tell me then,_**

**_Would you hold me?_**

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**_Or would you simply let it lie,_**

**_Leaving me to wonder why:_**

**_I can't get you out of this head,_**

**_That I call mine,_**

**_And I will say:_**

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**_Oh, no,_**

**_I can't let you go,_**

**_My little girl…_**

**_Because you're holding up my world,_**

**_So I need you…_**

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            The minutes seemed to sweetly fall into hours, as Zechs held Suzuka within his protective embrace. He could slowly begin to feel her breathing regulate, and he felt the touch of her eyelashes against his neck as she opened her eyes. 

            He had been expecting her to pull away, but he knew that she didn't have the strength. She did not even try to pull away; her body did not tense, and her breathing did not quicken now that she knew where she was. Instead, she pulled herself closer to him, and rested a hand over the cloth of his chest. It was as if she knew as well, and a silent understanding was built between them where words could not fill.

            Zechs stayed quiet for a few moments longer, savoring the sweet embrace he held with this woman who was an enigma to him, yet like a precious stone that he could barely keep his eyes away from. However, he knew that there was still so much that he had to take care of.

            "Suzuka…" He started quietly, with his voice low from being silent and relaxed for so long. "I know it will be hard, but I need you to leave right now…"

            "Zechs…" 

            "Straight down the hall, and up the staircases until you see windows that the city can be seen from… I trust you can find your way from there. A car will be waiting for you a block from here…" 

            He got up, slowly, and she gently moved back to sit on the floor, holding her upper arms so her lower arms crossed over her barely covered chest. Zechs moved to the side, and retrieved her clothes and red sash, before handing them to her just as slowly. Her face was turned down, and red hued line covered her cheeks and upper nose as she put on the garments, and tied the kimono like sash with skill.

            Zechs stood up, and held his hand out to her, which she took. He looked down to her hand, which was red and swollen from lack of circulation, and her wrists, which were black with grime and cut in several places and then some. 

            Suzuka rose to her feet shakily, and almost immediately lost her balance as she held onto Zechs tightly. He did not know what to say that could comfort her, or what to do to give her the strength to go. She was so weak, and he could feel her frailty as he supported her with the strength he wished for her to have. 

            In the corner of the well-lighted room, in a place that would be well within Suzuka's vision, was her boken, obviously put there to remind her of her weakness and vulnerability. Zechs knew, most likely, that she would be too weak to even get out, but having a weapon would help her to not be completely defenseless.

            She walked over, slowly, and retrieved it. She leaned against the wall for support as she wrapped the sheath around it and tied it with braided leather as rope. She seemed so frail, unlike when he had first seen her… But her spirit still remained, and for that he knew that some strength remained in her. 

            The silence still went on, and he heard her take a deep breath before straightening herself. She looked to him, as he stepped forward to be in front of her. He looked straight into her eyes, and his showed of longing and loss.

            He wanted to hold her again, to kiss her lips and feel her breath against him. He sighed, as he looked away, and stepped aside for her to get by. He had held her… And that was enough.

            She took a step, and now faced opposite of him, before she touched his arm lightly with her bare hand. 

            "Thankyou…" 

            He closed his eyes, and bowed his head with a small, rueful smile.

            She left.


	18. The Hero

Nothing Else Matters

By: Dark Mousy

Chapter Eighteen:

The Hero

**And they say that hero can save us,**

**I'm not going to stand here and wait.**

**I'll hold onto the wings of the heroes,**

**Watch as they all fly away…**

                The scent of her still filled his lungs, the warmth of her in his arms still fresh in his mind. She had thanked him, and left without a word… He had not expected her to do much else, the thank you was enough to calm him… 

                Zechs looked to the only doorway, where Suzuka had just left, with a forlorn look in his eyes. He stood there, in silence for some time, just staring around the room. So many thoughts flashed through his mind… He knew that he could just leave, and avoid the confrontation… But something stopped him, and something pushed him, as he went up the steps into his own oblivion…

                The main hall was silent, as silent as death. The sun was full out, and so the dusted windows shone filtered light into the gloomy hall… Shining off the dull marble floors, which reflected the light onto the carved mahogany walls that surrounded him. Everything was fine, ornate, elegant… Treize had always liked elegance, although now Zechs didn't know what had snapped in his mind.

                His boots resounded softly on the marble floor as he walked down the seemingly endless hallway… Passing door after door, opening one after another, finding nothing but an empty room. After another two floors up, he found a hidden spiral staircase, and began to climb.

               It was as if Zechs had stepped into another world, it was so strange, so dismal. At the top of the staircase was a trapdoor, it seemed, and Zechs shoved it open, and put his hands up in order to climb up into what he believed the final floor. What met his eyes was strange, and calming immediately…

                The entire floor, a seemingly endless ballroom hall on the top floor, covered in… Rose petals. Some had wilted, but most thrived beautifully. He moved his hand, revealing a white marble underneath the thick layer of petals. When he looked up to the high ceiling, a single chandelier made its presence known, to glint off the rose petals. 

                His eyes took it all in, and finally, he noticed the figure standing among them, staring at him with an indifferent expression… Sword in hand.

**They're watching us…**

**They're watching us…**

**As we fly away…**

                Zechs finally pulled himself from the door, and stood in front of the hole to the stairway, with his feet standing lightly on the petals underneath.

                "I think this obsession has taken you too far, Treize." His voice came, cool and low.

                "I think not, after all, you'd like roses on your deathbed, wouldn't you? And what would be better than to die on a bed of roses…" Treize replied in an arrogant tone, as he stepped forward, and took his stance.

                "We'll see how well your blood mixes with the crimson." Zechs now came at a monotone, as he made the first, miniscule move, and the fight began. 

                Everything seemed to be going in slow motion for Zechs. The fight was not eloquent, it was strength and agility. As Zechs spun his feet on the floor, the crimson petals rose up and danced around the two enemies, revealing white marble underneath, so white as if eager to take in their blood. 

                Treize did a powerful thrust, in which Zechs parried with ease, but with Treize's free hand he punched Zechs hard in the stomach. He was sent flying back and onto the ground, slowly cascading to a stop from the force of the punch. No sooner had Zechs a chance to open his eyes than Treize was above him, poising his sword to stab him in the neck. 

                Zechs had only the time to roll to the side, as he heard the steel clink against the marble surface. He spun one of his legs to wrap around Treize's knees, causing the man to collapse in the spot where Zechs had been and allowing Zechs the time needed to get up. But instead of taking the open shot, Zechs stepped back, and Treize rebounded and turned to him with death in his eyes. Play time was over, and Zechs knew it as Treize wiped blood away from his lip, and rushed.

                Treize had moves on him Zechs had never seen. He was unprepared for Treize's next blow, in which Treize threw his blade up, caught it by the blade, and swung it around so the hilt landed squarely in Zechs' throat.

                He groaned, and fell to one knee, holding his neck with one hand and coughing. He saw Treize's shadow over him, and his gloved hands gripped the rose petals underneath him.

                "Foolish. Foolish…" Treize said, as he took out his small, Byzantine dagger, and placed the tip against the back of Zechs' throat. "It was valiant. I commend you. But now… Watch as they all fly away…"

                Treize drew the blade back, still with his aim perfect, and brought it down…


	19. Death's Mercy

Nothing Else Matters

By: Dark Mousy

Chapter Nineteen

"Death's Mercy"

                "I…" Zechs felt the tip of the dagger against the juncture of his neck, and as Treize drew it back, most likely to deliver the killing blow, he spoke. "I feel pity for you, Treize."

                His words were cold, and filled with venom. Treize was caught by surprise long enough for Zechs to turn, and grab Treize's hand, which held the dagger. Treize's eyes narrowed in anger, and he growled as he used all his force to push Zechs back-first into the ground, as rose petals bunched around him.

                The Lightning Count's eyes stayed fixed, as the ornate dagger stopped directly before punching through Zechs' eye. Beads of sweat ran down both men's foreheads as Zechs groaned with the effort of keeping the blade from coursing through his eye.

                "I feel pity for you, Treize." He repeated, as the dagger was slowly being pushed away from such a vital area. "You are nothing without your insanity, which you hold to you like a love."

                "Insane, am I?" Treize replied, his voice gruff with exertion, as he tried to push against Zechs to pierce him with the dagger. "If I was so insane I would have ravaged her when I had more the chance!"

                A growl was emitted from Zechs' throat, and with that burst of anger he was finally able to push Treize off and away from him. Treize dug his sword into the stone ground, and jumped to his feet; anger shining like daggers in his eyes. "If I was so insane I wouldn't have given a second thought about how she chose you over me!"

                "What?" Zechs rose to his feet, holding his sword at his side.

                "Don't play the idiot, Milliard. I've seen the way you look at her, I watch you like a hawk. You came all the way here, to face death, for HER!" Treize rushed forward without another sound, and Zechs had barely enough reaction time to raise his sword and parry the blow. "You have the gall to call ME insane when I am EVERYTHING you have ALWAYS wanted to be! I have ALL the power you have always strived for, and you call me insane?! What you call insanity is nothing more than power! It is nothing more than what you wish you could have, if only a taste!"

                Zechs' eyes flared with an unknown emotion as he pulled back, giving Treize the exact edge to put a deep laceration in his side. He made a small noise in his throat, reflexively putting his free hand to the bleeding gash as he took another step back from Treize… and another, as if his steps would falter. The pain seemed to wrack his entire being, and his hand was warm and wet with his own blood.

                "I am everything you aren't, Milliard. We are one in the same. We are brothers!" Treize's chest heaved. "And I… I could offer her ANYTHING she could ever desire while you have nothing to give! You ARE nothing, do you hear me?! NOTHING!"

                Zechs narrowed his icy eyes, and dropped his sword. As Treize took this as a sign of surrender, Zechs ran forward; tackling Treize to the ground in a flurry of rose petals.

                "It is you who will die as nothing, with nothing."


	20. Driven

Nothing Else Matters

By: Dark Mousy

Chapter Twenty

"Driven"

            Treize tried to push Zechs away, but failed miserably. It seemed as if the man was driven, but by what, Treize could not yet see. In a test of strength, Zechs' pale, bloodied hand grasped Treize's sword-bearing hand. With a groan of effort, Zechs raised his hand, and pounded it against the floor. Treize was forced to elicit a yell as the sound of cracking bones was heard, and his hand released the sword. 

                In a fluid motion, Zechs took hold of Treize's dagger and held it to his throat with such force that blood began to trickle down his neck, catching the beads of sweat that lined it. 

                "Quite the predicament we're in…"

                "I wouldn't call it a predicament. You'll be dead in a few seconds," came Zechs' cool reply.

                "No, no. I would call it a predicament. You see, you can't kill me." Treize's voice was arrogant, and he backed up his tone with a smile to Zechs.

                "And how did you come to that conclusion?" Zechs allowed sarcasm into his voice.

                "Let me recap the events for you. Do you honestly think I would capture Suzuka, not for ravaging purposes, just to watch her hang from my ceiling like an adornment? Oh, no no no." Treize allowed a short laugh, despite the pain shooting up his arm from his broken metacarpals. "You see, she's my insurance policy. A very pretty one, at that." He mused. "Now, would you like to know more?"

                "Enlighten me."

                "I would love to, but you're crushing my chest. So, if you will…"

                Zechs let out a growl, before he stood, making sure all weapons were out of reach. 

                "Good, good." Treize dusted the petals off him. "Now. While the lovely assassin was in my custody, I took it upon myself to give her a nice medicine, designed by, well of course, yours truly." He smiled. "Now, perhaps I go too far with calling it a medicine… More like… A virus. A very nice mixture of deadly chemicals. Are you with me so far?"

                Zechs made no response, his hands itching to strangle the life out of the arrogant bastard.

                "She has… One week to live, I'd say. She won't feel the effects until about.. Ah, two days before her time is up."

                "How do you consider this an insurance policy." Zechs said through gritted teeth. "And I doubt this is the truth."

                "I consider this an insurance policy, mainly because…" Treize ripped his shirt open in a single motion, and Zechs blinked at a black device, like a tape, firmly placed over his heart. "If my heartbeat stops, or if this is removed, the lovely little device attatched to the ONE vial of antidote will… Oh, how should I say this? Go poof?" He ran a hand through his hair, now knowing his security. 

                "So you're asking me to spare your life."

                "No, I'm presenting you with a choice. Kill me, and Suzuka dies, let me live, and she lives."

                "How do I know you won't pursue her again?" Zechs lowered his sword.

                "Ah, well… You don't." Treize laughed. "But it wouldn't matter anyway… You'll be dead."

                Zechs made no movement, but to narrow his eyes at Treize's words.

                "Because… Well, you see that lovely-looking gash at your side there? My blade had the exact same poison on it… The exact same virus. And so, you have three choices. Your life… Or her own. And I am pretty sure that you will give her the antidote so I have no worries… She'll be mine, you know." And with that, Treize turned his back on Zechs.

                "Give me the antidote, and I swear before my last breath I will cut your heart out of you and watch you waste away."

                "I'd like to see you try." Treize turned his head, to look at Zechs from the corner of his eye. "…But you won't have a chance to."


	21. Presented with the Choice

The quiet of it all unnerved him; rubbed him in a direction he did not want to go. He forced himself to walk straight, and as he did so, the laceration on his side tore open the clotted blood, allowing more blood to flow. Zechs winced and put his blood-stained gloved hand to the wound, and forced himself to look down as he felt the warmth of his blood permeating the fabric of the glove. The wound was sending such shocks of pain through his body that he found it hard to breathe, hard to think, hard to stand… He wanted to just lie down as his life's blood spilled away but willed himself to keep going… He couldn't let Treize win.

He had left Treize there, just like that, standing among his precious rose petals. He still remembered the look he had received from him… Anger or sadness, he wasn't able to tell. When he looked back on the fight seemed so surreal; so strange. In his mind the petals were still falling… Swirling around them like a dance, as the sound of metal crashing against metal filled the room… The sound of metal cutting flesh, the sound of blood as it hit the delicate rose petals, staining their flawless beauty…

Beauty… At the mention of the word in his mind he could close his eyes and see her imprinted on his eyelids, like a wonderful curse. She would forever be seen by him as the strong woman he had always known her to be… For as long as he had known her. Treize had tried to ruin her, and failed – both he and Zechs knew that she was unable to be broken, not even a flaunting of her vulnerability

Yet… She had left. His mind reeled over it all over again as he continued to convince himself that in her weakness she couldn't do anything else… A thank you, a touch of her hand, the sound of her voice – it all came back to him, like a sweet scent from roses that barely passes your senses and yet you go back to find the source, to be able to breathe in the scent again. 

He paused his footsteps as he reached the middle of the vault room. He knew he had a choice to make, although he didn't hesitate with the choice he wanted to make. Suzuka had the disease, and now, for his own ignorance in not killing Treize on sight, he had it as well.

"If I had killed him, I would be killing Suzuka without that antidote…" He murmured through dried lips, as his feet moved him to Vault Five without his mind consenting. Before he reached out to punch the codes needed to open the vault, he looked down to what once was his white glove, and flexed his hand. He could feel the blood moving about on his palm and fingers under the soaked fabric, and felt the stickiness of it as it restricted the movement of his hand. 

"Damn…" He hardly whispered, as he pulled the glove off rather painfully, the dried blood had firmly stuck it to his flesh and now he faced his hand covered in his own blood… He could feel it running down his leg and he looked down to find it going over the smooth, black leather of his boot and slowly collecting on the floor under his foot. Had he really been standing that long? 

Out of his sleeve was pulled a small piece of paper, where written sloppily was the codes. He struggled to read them as he punched them in, only praying that Treize had not given him the wrong codes just to get him killed by putting in the wrong  combination. 

3…7…9…5…G…D…8…1… Dash… 4… 8… 3… 0… 9… Dash… Y…I…7…9…4…B…Q… Dash… 0…9…5…J…L…A…4… Dash… 3…7…5…1…K…A…3…

The door protested as its steel slowly slid open, revealing a completely clean, closet-sized room. The only thing available in the vault, however, was the two pillars covered in cloth that stood apart from eachother. On top of both pillars were two, seemingly identical vials, but both with different colored liquids inside, and encasing them a glass box with another set of coding to go through.

Zechs turned the paper around, where his bloody fingerprints now stained across some of the numbers and letters. Still able to read, he began to punch in the code.

4…5…3…1…G…H…E…T…4…2…8…9…7…P…O…V…1…7…5…8…J…L…W…Q…

The glass cases to both of the vials opened with a small creak, and the small pieces of paper in front of the vials which looked as if they should have given a label to them had nothing on them. Zechs examined both of the perfume-sized vials – one being with a blue liquid, and one being with a pink. Finally, he gently pulled the stopper on the pink vial, and allowed a single drop of the crystalline liquid to set itself on the piece of paper, and the paper, like a sponge, soaked in the liquid and spread it evenly to its four corners.

Zechs hadn't exactly expected it to work, but when he turned back to the vial he was surprised to see the text on it beginning to show up in large, black letters. In large print, it read:

B108 

While in small letters, under it read:

Antidote In Testing 

The stopper was put back into the vial, as Zechs carefully pocketed the precious item. His decision had been made. He would give the antidote to Suzuka, and would not even tell her he had it. Perhaps Treize had been lying about the disease itself… However, he could feel something like fire in his veins that shouldn't have been around his wound…

With the blue vial, he tucked it in an outer pocket, to destroy by fire later… If Treize was planning on the disease to spread by Suzuka's death and thus make money from the antidote… He wouldn't allow it. Treize had done enough, and when his strength was regained he would finish Treize for the last time… If he still had strength within him…


	22. Blackness

The rain had not stopped its steady onslaught. In a way, Zechs was glad for it, since it lessened the traffic on the streets and washed away the blood that kept falling on the unforgiving ground. He found it hard to see, the rain clouding his vision and the loss of blood making him weak… He had tried to use a makeshift bandage for it but it hardly held in the blood.

It was mid-day, but impossible to tell by the dark storm clouds that covered the sky. As Zechs walked alone on the flooding sidewalk, only a few cars were brave enough for the weather and passed him by at a walking pace, afraid to get caught within the floods that would most likely come. At first he had no idea of where he was heading, or why, but as the rain pelted his weakened form it all became more clear to him.

In the car that he had given Suzuka as her transportation were discreet directions to a safe house he owned miles from the shoreline and into the woods. He had used it once or twice when the war was raging deep and had a steady supply of anything _he_ would need, but nothing meant for a woman save for the food and beddings. Otherwise all he had was his own loose clothing and a toothbrush, not even a phone so the house would have no way to be tracked.

In his mind, he hoped he was heading the right direction, and that she had gotten there safely from the rain. What a man thinks about while walking through the pouring rain, knowing that he has mere days before death and that he is giving his one means of life to a woman who could probably care less about his well being can differ, but his thoughts stayed the same. They stayed on her… Always her. He knew what he was getting himself into and he was fully ready for it… He would not tell her he had contracted the disease so that she would take it, give her thanks, and continue on her existence… Without him.

"What did I expect her to do…" Zechs' low voice murmured, to the void of rain and sound around him. With his hand, which had been partially cleaned by the rain, he pushed a single platinum blonde lock from his eye and continued forward, before going across the street into a less populated area. The smell of the sea, the ocean, filled his lungs partially, although it was greatly dulled by the smell of the rain as it stirred the smell of the dirt from the worn roads. 

He was soaked to the core, wounded, weak, depressed, and angry. Angry at Treize who had smiled as he dealt the blow that would take his life away. Angry at himself for giving the ultimate sacrifice to a woman… Depressed that he couldn't admit… That he loved her.

His feet stopped in their tracks, and the steady stream of water was broken by his stillness. He had never admitted it before to himself, and he didn't actually admit it but he knew… A one-sided love… Reminded him so much of the way Noin had loved him…

His feet traveled on the worn road made of sand that was barely visible. He had walked miles, and the pain was almost so much that he wished to fall down, and fall asleep, never to get up again. Yet, he knew he had to at least get the antidote to her, and so his feet took step after step, until he was slowly able to see the safe house, and the small bit of smoke able to be seen from the chimney despite the rain. 

Zechs' hand had been holding the wound since he felt that he would give up… He was practically holding the two sides of the laceration together to stop further tearing. Treize had made sure he dug in deep… But Zechs knew that if he had hit any vital organs he would have been dead. He forced himself to remove his hand, and slowly wrapped it around the doorknob, before weakly turning it. 

His boot made a loud sound as he stepped in, and was able to close the door behind him. He could feel his eyes rolling into the back of his head, willing him to go unconscious, willing him into the black sleep…

Before his body met the floor, he was able to faintly see Suzuka stand suddenly, and her eyes, wide…

Before the blackness.


	23. You Don't

**Nothing Else Matters**

**By: Dark Mousy**

**Chapter Twenty-three**

**"You Don't"**

Pre-story Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of updateage. I've been busy. @_@ And plus, ff.net has been being such a butt.

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                The first thing he came to know was the warmth and sound of the crackling fire somewhere next to him. It danced on his pale skin, his bare skin, as he came to know from the way his skin remained heated. He wanted to remain this way, with this familiar warmth, but he forced his eyes open.

                His senses seemed to faintly return from their sleeping state, and the second thing he became aware of was the sound of the rain against the thick glass that made the windows. The sky was even darker outside, signifying to him that it was finally night. That was the only way he could sense how much time had passed. His head still felt unusually light, meaning that he had not slept until the next night, which should have been enough to regain his blood loss.

                A low groan escaped from his throat as he leaned up on his elbows. With one hand, he pulled down the sheet to rest at his waist, where the wound was bandaged. When he touched the white fabric, he could feel the stitches from underneath. He left it alone after that.

                Thoughts and memories swam through his head, memories that he did not want to surface and thoughts that made his blood boil and then cool. He remembered hitting the floor, and Suzuka picking him up with him helping her with his own weight. He remembered something on his lips… Was it her finger, or a kiss? 

                Zechs' eyes quickly moved to look for his clothes and he found them, however bloodied, folded on a chair nearby. The vial for her cure was there, somewhere. The choice of his death and her life rested in that fluid. He had nothing to miss in life, except her…

                His eyes finally rested on her, who seemed to have just been standing by the bed without him noticing. Her dress was clean, and hair once again neatly tied behind her. The few things that were missing, was her gloves, sandals, and the red tie around her forehead. She only stood there, studying him as he studied her.

                The calm expression he gave her could only hold for so long. The wound on his side announced its pain loudly and clearly, thus forcing him to break eye contact with her and wince. He did not hear Suzuka approach as she knelt by the side of his bed, which he also noticed was placed on the floor. 

                "Rest now." Her words were a whisper, a sweet, tantalizing reality. He could only watch her soft expression, as it was hidden under silken ebony locks. He barely had a chance to open his mouth in protest, before she silenced him, by placing a hand on his chest and pushing him to lie down. She was so beautiful. Everything he had dreamed of, hoped for, longed for was in her, on her, around her. She carried an aura of strength, yet he knew that he was the only one to see her vulnerable side.

                He watched, as her slender hands slowly removed the Japanese-styled sash from around her waist, revealing the front of her body for a brief moment before she folded the fabric over it. Silently, he wondered why she always had white fabric wrapped around her chest, and yet normal underwear. He had no time to inquire further, however, as she slid into the bed next to him.

                Wordlessly, he took the comforter and pulled it to cover them both. She had not the slightest trace of a blush on her cheeks, and it was only after he had lied down that he began to feel her effects on him. He lay flat on his back, while she turned on her side toward him, and pressed her body against his own. Her head rested on his chest, and her arm rested on his abdomen, while one of her legs, which was free of the constricting fabric, bent over both of his. 

               All Zechs could do was let out a shaking sigh, as he made himself refrain from touching her. She felt like the air to him, her scent so close to him was torturing his insides. 

                "What changed you?"

                There was a long silence, before she pulled herself closer to him. "Rest." Zechs could only do his best to relax his muscles and his mind. The full effect of where he was and ho he was with was hitting him full, and he finally allowed the pleasantly tantalizing thoughts to wash over his body like a cooling air.

                Slowly, he moved his hand to rest on her lower back, and closed his eyes. It seemed that his only choice at the time was to sleep, and he desperately hoped that what was happening wasn't a dream. If it was, he never wanted to awaken.

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Post-story author's notes: Originally this takes up five pages, but I decided to split it into two chapters. Bai bai for now, hope I didn't bore you.


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